


Figuring Each Other Out

by Layla_159



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anal Sex, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony, Hurt/Comfort, Jealous Tony Stark, M/M, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, possible marriage, tags will be added as we go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-05-26 04:42:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 42,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14993021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Layla_159/pseuds/Layla_159
Summary: When the Avengers first started, it was safe to say they didn’t get along. What happens when they spend time together? Can they become something more. What happens when Steve and Tony spend time together? They might just fall in love.(Sorry I suck at summaries)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first attempt ever at fanfiction. I’ve always been a consumer of these stories but never a producer. I’ve always loved Stony so the main focus of this story will be all about how Steve and Tony get to know each other and how they enter a relationship. I can’t wait to meet fellow shippers!  
> This takes place after the first avengers movie and I’m sorta ignoring infinity war. I’ve elected to ignore the big stupid purple grape. But one theme that I am gonna stress is that the avengers are better together. Part of the reason I thought they lost in IW is because they weren’t united. But anyways there will be smut in this story at some point and I’ll provide warnings in the tags but I’m not sure how dark I want this to go. If I do decide I want to take this down a darker path I’ll provide trigger warnings before each chapter! I don’t want anyone to be uncomfortable by what I write. This is my first attempt so please bear with me! I have no idea how long this will be so let’s just go along for the ride! I have no idea how you authors put yourselves out there but here we go!

Things at the tower had been going…well they had been going. The team had been getting along more and even had become closer in the time that had passed. Even still Tony decided to keep his distance, he didn’t want to become too attached. What with them being full time superheroes they were always in danger, besides anyone that Tony got close to always got hurt or ended up pushing him away. He thought idly back to his dating life with Pepper and his strained friendship with Rhodey. It wasn’t that they didn’t care about him, it was just that well... Tony was a handful at best and they...they came around when they could. 

Anyways coming back to the present Tony was tinkering away in his lab trying to improve the team's equipment. He needed to improve Caps suit and Nats widow bites, not to mention Clint’s arrows needed an upgrade. That was only the stuff for the Avengers, not to mention the work needed for Stark Industries. 

“Oh well, who needs sleep anyways? Right Dum-E” the bot just whirred in response and proceeded to hand him the fire extinguisher. 

“Yeah I don’t need that, why don’t you make yourself useful and make me some coffee. And no motor oil in it this time!”

“Sir I strongly advise you get some sleep. You haven’t for the past 48 hours and have consumed nothing but coffee since then.” The AI cut in.

“Ah can it Jarvis, sleep is for the weak and the world waits for no one!”

The AI knew better than to argue so Tony just continued to work and worry. He was in the middle of trying to make Clint’s arrows explode by voice command when Jarvis spoke up again. 

“Sir, Mr. Rogers is requesting entrance.” 

Tony took a moment before replying to think back on the last few weeks. Him and Steve had been getting along much better and had even come close to becoming friends. Tony had been trying to keep his distance, he couldn’t stomach the idea of anyone on his team, especially Steve dying in battle. Besides he was a selfish billionaire who had caused too much death due to his carelessness, not to mention the lack of being able to sleep due to the nightmares that consumed him. No, Steve wouldn’t want anything to do with him once he got to know him. Just like everyone else. 

Despite the rapid deteriorating thoughts, “Let him in Jarvis”

Steve walked over in all his perfect Captain America glory and said, “Hey Tony.”   
In his hands he held a sandwich and fruit punch (Tony’s favorite). 

“You have been working so much lately that I thought you could use some food. Jarvis said you haven’t been out of here in the last two days.” 

“Jarvis you traitor!” 

“Sir you programmed me to assist you, I was simply trying to aid your health” the AI responded rather sassily. 

“Yeah well whatever” Tony grumbled “Thanks for the meal Cap. Gotta keep your resident genius up and running, I get it.” Tony meant for it to sound like a joke but it came out more as a statement of fact. 

Steve frowned at this, why would Tony say something like that? He just wanted to help him in the only way he knew how. He couldn’t help Tony with tech, but he could support him in other ways, he knew how hard Tony worked. Steve knew how much Tony actually cared despite his determination not to show it.

Since waking up in the new world Steve had more or less been trying to move on. He hated the fact that everyone he knew was gone but he had to move on and forge new connections. He had a team now and he wanted them to be family. 

“Of course we want our resident genius up and running, he’s valuable to us but that’s because he’s our friend.” Steve said, like he was stating an obvious fact. 

Tony looked up from his work then, half surprised and half skeptical. Time to activate self defense mechanism: deflect. 

“Yeah well why else would we be friends? It’s because I’m useful. I have money and I can build you the best tech available. Now if you’ll excuse me I really have a lot of work to do.” Tony said in a dismissive tone. 

Steve just sighed, he knew better than to try and argue with Tony especially when he was tired and overworked. More to the point they had been becoming friends and Steve didn’t want to ruin that. 

So he just got up and said “Alright then. Try to get some sleep sometime soon Tony.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tony replied. 

Steve walked out of the lab a bit sad that Tony didn’t want to talk, but determined not to let himself be pushed away. 

—- 

The next morning Steve woke up early for his routine run. He honestly loved running, it helped him clear his head and push away any lingering stress from the day before. He also appreciated the simple aspect of his ability to be able to run. It served as a reminder of something to be grateful for, before he serum he was so sick that the idea of running seemed like a pipe dream. After the serum the war kept him busy enough. Now he was afforded the luxury to take time for himself, and he was healthy and that was what counted. 

As he rounded the corner back to the tower he stopped when he got in the lobby. He saw Tony with Pepper looking irritated. 

“I don’t understand why you drag me to these meetings. They’re pointless plus you’re the CEO. I have better things to do.” Tony snapped 

“You are still an important part of Stark Industries Tony. Besides you have responsibilities, you need to be a part of the meetings, it’s essential to knowing where everyone stands. You have to grow up.” Pepper replies sounding like this was the millionth time she had to explain this. Before Pepper looked back up a flash of hurt crossed Tony’s face before the irritation took its place. 

Feeling a bit awkward and out of place, Steve just went for it, “Good morning Ms. Potts, and hi Tony.” 

Pepper immediately shot him an award winning smile, “Good Morning Steve, back from a run I see.” Tony just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Yeah gotta get that workout in early.” Steve replied awkwardly. “But I can see you both are very busy and hard at work so I’ll leave you too it.” Steve added in just wanting to leave. 

“Ah yes running a company does take a lot of hard work.” Replied Pepper still smiling, “Come on Tony we have to go.” 

After that Steve went up to shower and then started to cook his team breakfast in the communal kitchen. He wasn’t sure if Tony would be back in time for it but he wanted to do something nice for his team no matter how small. Back before the serum his family was always doing things for him, he wanted a chance to give back, even if he couldn’t give to them directly. As he was finishing up pancakes members of the team began to make their way down, the smell of food being too good to resist. 

Bruce was the first to arrive, polite as ever, “Morning Steve, thanks for breakfast” he smiled. 

“Morning Bruce did you sleep well?” 

“Yeah I did I spent a lot of time in the lab, I think I’m close to finding a way to controlling the Hulk.” He replied enthusiastically. 

“Wow seriously? I thought you and the Hulk were getting along better?” Steve frowned. 

“Yes we are but this serum-I guess you could call it-would allow me and Hulk to communicate better and thus figure out when it is best for him to come out and not just react when I feel angry.” Bruce supplied. 

“Wow when that’s incredible! Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I know I’m no scientist but I’m always here.” Steve smiled. 

“Thanks Steve that would be awesome and don’t worry there are plenty ways you can help.” 

“You know what would help me? If there was someone making some bacon.” Said Clint rather grumpily while walking into the kitchen yawning. 

“Hey now don’t be rude Clint. Keep that up and you’ll be locked out of this tower to fend for yourself.” Wanted Natasha who had just walked in. 

“Aww come on Nat you know you love me and would never leave me to the wolves.” Clint batted his eyelashes at her. 

“Of course I would never leave you to the wolves, you’d get eaten birdbrain.” Natasha retorted. 

“Hey now guys let’s just try and have one peaceful breakfast please,” interjected Steve. 

All of them have him devilish smiles and Steve knew he had lost. 

The rest of breakfast went by pretty smoothly, everyone much more content with full stomachs. 

“So where is Stark?” Clint asked 

“Oh he’s at a meeting,” Steve replied “He didn’t look too happy to be there.” 

“Well I wouldn’t be if I were him, but you know Stark. He’s allergic to any type of responsibility.” Clint retorted. 

“Hey he’s very busy and he does a lot for all of us.” Interjected Bruce. 

“Yeah, yeah.” said Clint. 

After that everyone went to get on with their day and Steve set out to clean the kitchen. He was washing dishes when Tony walked into the kitchen looking exhausted. 

“Hey.” Said Tony grumpily. 

“That bad?” Asked Steve

“Ugh you wouldn’t believe how many idiots there are on the board, you explain why things are wrong over and over again and they just don’t ever seem to get it.” Tony said running a hand over his face and sitting down at the counter. 

“Well maybe it’s just time to explain why you’re right.” smiled Steve. 

“Believe me I’ve tried.” said Tony, giving him a wry smile. 

“Well you missed breakfast but don’t worry I saved you some. And believe me it was quite a feat considering Clint is keen on eating everything in this kitchen.” Steve said smiling, handing him the plate of food. 

“Thank you” Tony laughed and flashed a genuine smile at Steve’s thoughtfulness. 

After that, the conversation continued, mostly about Avengers related business and future training. They eventually headed off to the common room where Tony spent a long time telling Steve about this improvement he found that he could add to improve clean energy. Tony was smiling and rambling and Steve could barely follow but to see Tony happy like that made it worth it. Tony was about to excuse himself to go to the lab when Steve interjected,   
“Tony you need to take a break.” Steve said seriously, “I know you never went to bed last night and you had a meeting really early this morning.” 

“Oh don’t worry Steve I’m fine. Despite what everyone seems to believe, I can take care of myself.” Tony replied, sounding annoyed. 

“It’s not that I think you can’t take care of yourself, it’s just that a break never hurt anyone.” Supplied Steve. 

“Well in this case it can, the longer I wait to make improvements for The Avengers the world is at risk. I have to do it.” Tony said sternly and before Steve could say anything else Tony walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

After that last conversation with Tony went downhill, Steve decided to give the other man some space. He decided to do the one other thing that could help clear his mind: drawing. He grabbed his sketch pad and started drawing whatever came to mind, his old childhood home in Brooklyn came to mind first. After that he drew his shield-but not the way everyone knows it to be: shiny and perfect. He detailed it with scratches and scars specific from every battle that had held a special meaning. The vibranium metal was resilient but that didn’t mean he was. He moved on to the next sketch, Tony’s arc reactor. He started off with in the center and made his way out and before he knew it, an hour had passed. Once he was finished he felt like he would finally be able to talk to Tony. 

Tony hadn’t really left his lab since his… fight..? talk…? With Steve. He didn't exactly know what to think or how to feel. He wasn’t sure if Steve was just trying to keep an eye on him because he thought he was a loose cannon or if it was something else. 

He quickly shook himself at that thought, what else could it possibly be? He was Tony Stark after all, the only reason he was even on the team was because he was rich and could build them tech. 

“Sir I really advice that you take a break. Your body scans are showing that if you don’t rest within the next few hours you’ll collapse from exhaustion.” 

Tony sighed running a frustrated hand over his face, “Jarvis I already told you I can’t take a break, I need to get the equipment for the Avengers updated. I can’t risk them getting hurt in the field just because I need a little nap.” 

At that moment Steve walked in, holding another sandwich, giving him a sheepish smile. 

Tony fought hard not to smile and looked down at his work, muttering, “So...is this going to be a regular thing now?” 

Steve smile just grew, “Think of it as a peace offering...or an apology for what happened yesterday.” 

“Yeah, Rogers no need to apologize. How about we just forgive and forget.” Tony said in a dismissive tone. When Steve didn’t move Tony looked back up, “Listen Cap, as much as I would love to chit chat right now I can’t, I have loads of work to finish.” 

Steve took a moment before replying, he could see that Tony was stressed but he knew he couldn’t just let this go. There was clearly a major misunderstanding that needed to be cleared up. However this was Tony, he needed to choose his words carefully otherwise the result would be the same as yesterday. 

Steve walked towards Tony until he was right in front of him. Tony glanced up at him, a cross between confused and uncomfortable. 

“Steve, what do you want?” Tony asked sounding irritated. 

“Tony I need you to understand something. What I was trying to say yesterday was that I am worried about you. Not because I don’t think you’re capable of taking care of yourself-trust me, I know you are. I see you working yourself to the bone and you don’t have to.” 

“What are you talking about? Of course I have to! We have to be prepared for the worst and that means having the best tech and suits available. And that doesn’t happen by sitting on my ass.” Tony replied frustrated. 

“Tony listen to me.” Steve said trying to get through to him, “You do so much to protect this team, you saved all of our asses more times than I can count. You do so much, trust me when I say that you can take a break. Not because we think you’re a liability but because you are our friend. We care about you more than the suit and the upgrades. Iron man is a huge asset to the team, that’s true, but Tony is vital. You are one of us, we care about you. End of story. We want you to be well because you deserve it more than anyone.” Steve ended his mini rant with a hand through his hair and one question, “The only question is why can’t you see that?” 

Tony sat there completely in shock. He couldn’t believe what Steve had said, much less form an articulate reply… “I… um….” he looked down and rubbed the back of his neck, he knew he owed Steve a thanks. He wasn’t expecting such upfront honesty and he definitely didn’t think that’s what Steve and the others actually thought. He quickly swallowed down any emotion that he may-he definitely wasn’t feeling. 

“Look Steve… I just want to try my best to keep everyone safe. You say I’m vital to the team but so is everyone.” Tony paused and took a breath, “But… uh, thank you for being concerned, it means a lot.” Tony said while barely being able to maintain eye contact. He wasn’t used to gratitude, much less praise. 

“Good.” Steve said smiling, “Now I think it’s time for you to get some sleep. Jarvis told me you are running on next to nothing except coffee.” 

“Jarvis you’re such a traitor! Remind me to reprogram you tomorrow.” 

“It would be my pleasure to sir.” The AI responded with fake innocence. 

Tony just grumbled in response and got up, smiling softly at Steve. Steve just led him out and followed him to his room to make sure Tony was actually going to bed. 

That night, Tony slept soundly and content. His last thoughts centered around the possibility of maybe getting closer to the Avengers and possibly just being able to take a little breather. 

—-

Tony fully intended to simply take a few hours for a quick nap and then go back to work...unfortunately life had other plans. He slept through the rest of the night and the entire morning and woke around 4:30 pm.

Tony quickly realized that he slept the day away so instead of immediately going down to the workshop something compelled him to go down to the common floor. 

He expected a bunch of rambunctious Avengers to greet him but all he got was Steve sitting on the couch...sketching. He walked closer to see what Steve could be drawing and he saw what looked to be the inside of an older home. But before he could see anymore Steve turned around. 

“Oh hey Tony, what’s up?” Steve asked as he closed his sketchbook. 

“I didn’t know you could draw.” Tony said surprised. 

“Oh… yeah I draw sometimes, it helps me clear my head.” Steve said shyly. 

“Oh well that’s what going into the workshop does for me.” Tony added awkwardly, “So… where is everyone else?” 

“Oh well Nat and Clint got called in from Fury about a possible mission and Bruce said something about a meditation day and I haven’t seen him since.” Steve replied.

“Any word from Thor?” 

“Still in Asgard as far as we know. He should be coming in a few days though.” 

Tony was very tempted to just dismiss himself and retreat down to the workshop, but Steve had been making an effort lately. He thought he should at least try to return the favor. 

“So just out of curiosity… your drawing, it looked like the inside of an old house. Was that your old home?” Tony asked hesitantly. 

“Oh you saw that did you? Yeah it’s the living room of where me, my mom and pa used to live. It was a very small house..but very warm.” Steve said wistfully. 

“Oh…you don’t talk about your family much. What were your parents like?” Tony asked interested, sitting down. 

“Well it was hard because I’m sure you know that I was a sickly kid before the serum. It took its toll on my family. But my mom...she was incredible.” Steve said with a huge smile, “My dad worked a lot but there was this one Christmas when we were all together and my mom made this amazing chicken and baked these delicious cookies. The whole neighborhood pitched in. We had these community Christmas celebrations and this year it happened to by at my house. And Bucky came over and we played games all night. Best Christmas I ever had.” Steve smiled, however it was a little sad and nostalgic. 

“Wow Steve that’s incredible. It sounds like you had some amazing people in your life.” Tony said looking down, “I’m sorry you had to leave it behind.” He added. 

“Hey now it’s not all doom and gloom. I get to help people now, and hey Stark tower is an upgrade from my old Brooklyn home don’t ya think?” 

Tony smiled teasing, “Hey I’m not sure, I mean it is the most technologically advanced building on earth, but hey it’s not Brooklyn.” 

“Hmm well you can’t have everything I guess.” Steve said smiling. 

They both just sat there smiling at each other when Tony said suddenly, 

“It’s the Avengers Tower by the way.” 

“What?” Steve asked confused.

“It’s uh, I’m renaming the tower. It’s the Avengers tower now. Seemed appropriate with us being a team and all. ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ deserve their name up there, not just me.” Tony said with a small smile. 

Steve was so surprised by this, he didn’t know what to say “Well gee Tony, that’s just swell. Thank you. Maybe Tony Stark does have a heart.” Steve teased. 

“Hey remember those non disclosure documents I had you sign?” Tony asked “Well don’t go telling any of my secrets.” Tony said with a devilish smile. 

Once the laughter died down Steve offered to make them both dinner. That’s how Steve and Tony ended up eating delicious spaghetti. After that ended up sat together on the comfy couch watching some comedy movie. 

Halfway through the movie Tony decided to open up a bit, hugging his knees to his chest, “You know, my best Christmas was with Jarvis. Not my AI but my butler. He took me to his family’s house and Rhodey ended up meeting us there after with some of his family. We talked and laughed and shared a bunch of funny stories. One of the best nights of my life.” Tony ended quietly. 

Steve was surprised about this admission, Tony rarely talked about his past. 

“Wow that sounds wonderful Tony. Can I ask why you weren’t with Howard and Maria? I pictured you having grand Christmas celebrations.” 

Tony shrugged, “Well that’s what usually happened. Howard would host some huge party, usually it was a stunt for business and I would end up alone. Jarvis saw that and took me with his family instead.” 

“That’s awful Tony, I’m sorry. So you got to spend the holidays with Jarvis from there on out, some good came out of the bad.” Steve smiled. 

Tony however didn’t, “No it was just the one time. Someone noticed Howard’s son wasn’t at the event and from then on out I wasn’t allowed to not be there. I had to represent the Stark name.” Tony added bitterly. 

Steve took a moment to reply. He wasn’t expecting Tony to be this open with him. “Howard was so different from the man I remembered. The man I knew was a happier man, someone I would’ve called a friend. It’s clear now that that’s not who he turned out to be. I’m sorry you had to be on the receiving end of that. No one deserves that but especially not you Tony.” Steve said sadly.

Tony did smile a little then, “Yeah well it wasn’t all horrible, I mean I turned out fine didn’t I?” Tony said joking a bit.

“Yeah you turned out just fine.” Steve said smiling. 

And the rest of the night was spent watching a terrible comedy movie until they both passed out on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment or let me know if there’s anything you want me to add :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer and has much more Avengers. Hope you like!

It was the next morning. Steve was pleasantly surprised when Tony had shown up in the common room. He assumed Stark would just hide out in the workshop as soon as he was up. It was really nice though, Tony had come down and enjoyed his company. Truth be told he was surprised that the other man had opened up to him, but he was even more surprised that he has opened up to Tony. Talking to Tony had been really… nice. 

The thing was that no one had ever needed Steve. Before the serum he was just Steve, a sickly burden, the only time he became useful was when he was Captain America. That’s who the world worshipped and that’s who the Avengers relied on. 

It was nice to finally have someone who wanted to hear his story, who came to Steve for advice. In short it was nice to be needed and not needy. 

He quickly shook himself out of those thoughts and decided to check his phone. He frowned in surprise when he saw that he had an email from Pepper Potts that said all of the Avengers were supposed to attend some big Gala in the middle of New York. 

He was a bit confused as to why he was supposed attend, he decided to go down and ask Tony if he knew anything about it. 

—

Tony had accidentally fallen asleep with Steve on the couch last night. He had to admit that it was really nice talking with Steve, he had even managed to surprise himself-what did he expect? He was Tony Stark-by opening up to him. It was unexpectedly easy to talk to the man, Steve was very different from Captain America who commanded them on the field. 

He had been in the workshop for about an hour, working on upgrading Steve’s suit when Jarvis interrupted him, 

“Sir, Miss Potts is requesting entrance.” 

Tony just shook his head, “Tell her not now Jarvis, I’m busy.” 

“Sir she has used the override code and will be here in approximately ten seconds.” 

“Shit! Jarvis!” 

“My sincerest apologies sir.” 

A moment later Pepper stood in front of Tony, with her hands on her hips looking irritated. 

“Is there any reason entering your workshop is like trying to break into Fort Knox?” 

“Well gee it’s not like I’m doing anything important down here.” Tony replied sarcastically. 

“Tony,” she sighed, “I’m not here to argue pointlessly with you, I just wanted to let you know that I emailed Steve to let him know that there is the Gala coming up next week that all Avengers are required to attend.” 

“Wait why wasn’t I notified?” Tony asked, “I am to be alerted about any SI business first.” He said angrily. 

“Like you ever cared or looked at emails before.” Pepper snapped back. 

“That doesn’t matter! I’m supposed to be the first to know, especially if it involves the Avengers. It’s your job to tell me.” Tony tried not to yell. 

Pepper went steely at that, before replying, “I don’t understand why you are making such a huge deal out of this. Steve is the captain of the Avengers, not you. Secondly I let him know because I know he won’t ignore me or make up excuses. He is the leader of a team to protect the world for a reason, he is responsible and reliable.” She all but spat at him. 

Pepper just sighed, “I mean really Tony, you can’t even manage a company, I had to take over for you.” 

Tony sat shocked by her response. For once he didn’t have a reply, hurt and shame just flowed through him. He couldn’t believe one of his best friends had just said that. 

Pepper did look slightly guilty after a moment and added, “Look Tony, I really didn’t want to argue with you, just come to the event please. You don’t have to make a speech, just show your face.” And with that she turned away and left the workshop. 

Well… that had totally gone to shit. Tony just tried to breathe in and out and will the tears not to come. It was ridiculous to want to cry over some stupid argument but it wasn’t fun to have someone point out your insecurities and use them against you. Much less have them voiced by a close friend. 

He tried to shake himself out of the rapidly downhill train of thought but he just couldn’t, as if he needed another reminder of why he was a failure and a burden. 

“Sir your heart rate is increased too much for such little time, do you need me to alert someone for assistance?” 

“What..? Uh, no Jarvis. Let’s just pick up where we left off.” 

—

Another half hour went by of Tony working before Steve walked into the workshop. Tony was so deep in concentration that he didn’t notice Jarvis alert him of his arrival. 

“Hey Tony” 

“Oh shit Steve!” Tony said putting a hand to his chest, “Warn a guy will ya? Or better yet, just wear a bell.” 

Steve laughed at that, “Sorry to bother you I was just wondering if you knew anything about an email that Pepper sent? Something about us having to go to a Gala?” Steve asked. 

Tony immediately tensed at that and looked down, “Oh um, yeah Pepper wants us to attend because it’s to raise money for rebuild projects and a lot of good charities. She thinks if the Avengers show face they might donate much more.” And yes, Tony did read the information Pepper sent after their little spat. 

“Oh okay great well that’s pretty much what it said in the email but I just wanted to check in with you.” Steve smiled “Looks like I have to bust out my fancy suit.” He joked. 

“Why would you want to do that?” Tony asked skeptically. 

“Do what? Go to the Gala? You said it yourself it’s for charity.” Steve said, slightly confused. 

“No. Why would you want to check in with me?” 

“Well because your the head of SI. Plus you're an Avenger, you’re supposed to check in with partners on important business.” Steve said like it was obvious. 

Tony just looked at him surprised, he didn’t expect Steve to think of him as partner or an equal for that matter. 

“Oh… okay, well it’s safe and it’s for a good cause so with your thumbs up we’d be good to go.” Tony said and then looked down. 

Steve frowned, he sensed that there was something else there but he didn’t want to push it. 

“So I see you’re working on my suit…” 

“Yeah I’m installing new upgrades don’t worry. And your suit is now bullet and flame proof.” Tony supplied quickly. 

“That’s amazing Tony thank you! You know, I wish I knew how you build all this stuff. It seems like something out of a crazy science movie to me.” Steve chuckled. 

“Would you… would you want me to explain it to you? Show you how it works?” Tony asked hesitantly, like he was expediting an immediate rejection.

Steve was taken aback by the offer, Tony rarely let people in his workshop, let alone showed how he worked, “Are you serious?” Steve asked, “Tony that would be awesome.” Steve smiled excitedly. 

So Tony spent the next two hours explaining how his tech worked and how he developed the ideas. Steve was actually able to follow along and became increasingly impressed as he began to understand just how incredible Tony’s mind was. 

They kept on talking until Jarvis interrupted, “Captain, you asked me to alert you when Ms. Romanoff and Mr. Barton arrived back from the mission.” 

“Oh wow thank you Jarvis!” Steve stood up, “Tony this was incredible, this tech is amazing. Thank you for building it.” He smiled, “I’ll see you later.” 

Tony just sat and uttered out “Yeah...I’ll see you later.” He didn’t expect things with Steve to go so well. 

—- 

It was a day later when Thor final arrived from Asgard. The team was in the middle of discussing the specifics of the Gala when a roar of thunder broke through their conversation. Not a minute later, Thor walked through the door.

“Hello my friends! How have my comrades fared since my departure?” 

“Oh we barely survived without you Thor.” Clint replied dramatically. 

Bruce just rolled his eyes, “Don’t listen to him.” He stared pointendly back at Clint. “We missed you buddy.” Clint just stuck his tongue out. 

“Ah yes it is so great to see you, strongest Avenger!” Thor beamed. 

Both Tony and Clint proceeded to scoff at that and Clint shouted out. 

“Yeah he might be the ‘best at smashing things’ Avenger, but I’m the smartest, most skilled and sexiest Avenger.” Clint smirked. 

The whole group just rolled their eyes at that, there was no need to give Clint more ammunition by replying. 

“So Thor,” Steve said, “It’s good you got here. We were just talking about a party that the whole team has to go to in a few days.” 

“A party?” Thor asked excited, “Ah yes, this must be in celebration of my return!” 

“No Thor,” Steve said before anyone else could reply, “This is to help raise money for charities that could help a lot of people.” 

“Oh then we must partake in this event, as it is our duty to protect the earth and it’s fine people.” Thor said putting a hand to his chest. 

“Yeah yeah, ‘earth's mightiest’ heroes and all that. We just need you to show up and look pretty.” replied Tony, trying to get to the point. 

“Ah if it isn’t the famous Tony Stark, it has been so long since I’ve seen you fellow comrade” Thor said, pulling Tony into a bear hug, “Tell me Man of Iron, do you still have my chamber from last time?” 

“Yeah yeah, it’s right over here, Point Break.” Tony smiled softly. 

—-

The theory of having a Gala with the Avengers might seem like a good one, in practice Tony was realizing that he was becoming more and more nervous at the thought.

Seriously, come on! All the Avengers in one very crowded place with alcohol being served was probably the conditions for a perfect storm. But it was too late to go back now as they were all going to meet up in the lobby for Happy to drive them. 

Tony was the first one down as he was the most experienced with getting ready quickly for these things. 

“So on a scale from one to Loki, how disastrous do you think this night will go?” asked Happy, smirking. He obviously sensed Tony’s nervousness. 

“Ha ha ha, very funny,” Tony replied dryly “We are the perfect unit, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Right at that moment the rest of the Avengers piled in and damn, they cleaned up nice. Tony’s eyes immediately went to Steve and they both looked at each other at the same time. 

“You uh, look great Steve.” said Tony before quickly looking away “And as for the rest of ya, maybe we should stop defending the world and take up modeling.” Tony said in perfect Stark bravado. 

“Very smooth Stark,” Natasha replied dryly, “Can we just get this show on the road?” 

After that they piled into the limo and before they knew it they were walking in front of a million flashing lights and into the building. 

The Gala started off excellently, Steve even volunteered to say a few words for the cause and that completely won the crowd over. After that there was a lot of mingling and dancing.

Tony was at the back near the bar, constantly keeping tabs on his team. Currently, Natasha and Bruce were on the dance floor, they were quite the pair, Clint was busy talking some potential donors and Thor was talking with Steve…and they were laughing. Tony didn’t know why that bothered him as much as it did. 

Just as he was about to insert himself in the conversation, Donald-an asshat who Tony had to play nice with-came up to him. 

“So Stark, you think that just because you bring your goodie two shoe heroes that we will be fooled into giving you money for whatever fucked up cause is happening under the table? I mean it’s not as if you’re tight on cash.” He sneered. 

“I’ll have you know, Donald, that this event was organized by Pepper and if you actually had listened to anything anyone has said tonight, no profits will be going to Stark Industries, only to charities and rebuilding organizations.” 

“So pretty much you want us to pay for the mess you, a ‘hero’ caused.” He snapped back. 

Before Tony could respond, Steve was there in an instant, “I don’t know why you think you have any right to say any of that, however I need to ask you to leave.” He said in his Captain America voice. 

“Oh wow Stark so you can’t even fight your own battles.” He said loudly. 

At this point many people were beginning to watch the exchange so Steve acted fast.

“Oh believe me Tony Stark is more than capable of fighting his own battles. He saved you and the whole city from complete destruction when he took a nuke to space. The point is that no one speaks to my teammates that way.” Steve said angrily, “You can leave now. We don’t want or need you. The only question is will you go willingly or will I have the pleasure of escorting you out.” Steve stared the man down. 

Donald looked a mix of humiliated an terrified, which was an excellent look on him if Tony did say so himself. 

“Now to everyone who’s listening, I understand if you don’t agree with the way we go about saving and helping people, however no one is to speak to us like they did Tony. Our job as Avengers is to protect the world, but to do that we have each other’s backs.” Steve said to the room. 

Everyone looked a mix of astonished and appropriately awed. That is, until a loud and large lightning bolt struck right outside the building. 

“My fellow Avengers! The vessel that transported that horrible man is now vanquished! This Gala is officially a success!” Thor boomed. 

The whole room erupted into laughs and applause.

—-

The event didn’t last very much longer after that and the Avengers all decided to go home. On the way Clint demanded a celebratory movie night. 

“I mean come on guys this was a huge win for us! And Thor blasted that jerks car, if that isn’t a reason to celebrate then I don’t know what is!” 

No one in the car had the heart or energy to argue with him. So they all just murmured sounds of agreement. 

Once they got into the common room they all decided to sit down for the movie. Thor took up a large portion of the couch and Clint took a beanbag on the floor, Natasha sat next to Clint who saw that as an opportunity to lay his head in her lap. Natasha just fondly rolled her eyes. 

Steve sat down on the couch and Tony quickly sat down next to him. Steve was surprised… there was a lot of room on the couch. They locked eyes quickly before looking away. Bruce sat next to Thor and they all decided to watch a Disney movie in order to “culturally educate” Steve and Thor.

Halfway through the movie Tony nudged him with his foot, 

“So thanks for sticking up for me back there. It means a lot.” Tony smiled shyly. 

“Of course Tony, we are a team remember.” Steve patted Tony’s knee. 

Tony just smiled back, then got up and said, “Who wants popcorn?” 

Everyone shouted “Meeee!” at the same time. 

Tony came back with several bowls of popcorn and sat even closer to Steve than before, their legs were practically touching. They both exchanged small smiles and then continued watching Mulan. 

It was a great night for all of them. Both Tony and Steve basking in the warm feeling they got from being able to spend time with their team.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing this chapter. Hope you guys like it!

Chapter 4

Something had changed with the team after the Gala movie night, it was as if a damn had been broken causing all of the Avengers to want to hangout much more than before. They were the only few people to know what it was like to be superheroes and after Steve’s speech, not only did they want to support one another, but they saw the importance of it. 

Tony was back at it again in his lab working on the last of tech for the Avengers. He was happy, recently things with his team had been taking a turn for the better, they were starting to become something like family to him. He quickly shook himself out of those thoughts, he couldn’t dare to hope for anything like that. If things with Pepper lately were any indication, he’d just end up an irritant and a disappointment. 

He was almost finished with Nat’s widow bites when Dum-E came up to him with what was supposed to be a cup of coffee, “Dum-E! What did I tell you? I can’t drink motor oil okay? It will kill me! Why can’t you be useful?” 

“Hey now, there’s no need to be mean to him,” Steve said as he just walked in, “Give it here Dum-E, I’ll take it, it looks delicious.” 

Tony gave him a look that said he thought Steve was insane, “Why are you encouraging him? He needs to learn that he’s doing it wrong.” Tony said crossing his arms. 

Steve ignored him, taking the cup and faking a sip, “Wooow Dum-E this is delicious, great job!” Steve smiled. 

The bot whirred happily and spun around before quickly running away and handing Steve a wrench, which is what Tony had originally asked for. 

Tony just scoffed, “Wow Rogers, you come here and manage to get one of my bots to pick you as the favorite.” Tony said smiling, “What’s up Steve?” 

Steve all of a sudden became shy and looked kind of embarrassed, “Well, uh, there’s something I wanted to show you, I was hoping you weren’t too busy down here.” 

“Oh. Well is it urgent? Does it involve the Avengers?” Tony asked seriously. 

“No no, it’s nothing like that, it’s…. personal I guess.” Steve said looking away. 

Tony had no idea what to make of that, “Okay… well just give me a few more minutes down here to finish up and then I’ll meet you upstairs.” 

“Alright sounds good.” Steve said quickly the walked out. 

—-

Steve was very nervous, he had no idea how Tony would respond to this. He wanted to give something to Tony, something that he couldn’t just buy. That already was an extremely complicated concept itself, not to mention Tony was a billionaire who could buy literally anything he wanted and on the rare occasion he couldn’t buy it, he could just build it himself. 

This is how Steve ended up painting something for Tony, technically it was two paintings. The first, was of the Iron Man armor in the midst of a recent battle that they had won. Tony had come in and swooped up Natasha and Clint at the perfect moment and saved them. Steve had been so relieved that everyone was okay, afterwards they ended their victory with all of them getting rides on the Iron Man armor. It was a night they’d never forget. 

The painting showed everyone laughing and the featured the Iron Man armor shining in the moonlight. The second, was from the movie night. Steve had asked Jarvis if he could pull up a photo of the perfect moment and he had. 

At that moment he heard Tony walk into the common room and all the nervousness came rushing back. What if his paintings weren’t good enough? Tony bought rare, priceless pieces of art all the time. The man was the world's most successful businessman, he had probably seen it all. 

“So Steve what did you want to show me?” Tony asked looking worried, “Is something wrong? Whatever it is we can fix it.” Tony tried to comfort. 

“No Tony it’s nothing serious,” Steve hesitated before adding, “It’s more of a ‘thank you for everything that you do for us’.” Steve said looking down, cheeks tinted pink. 

“I’m not sure you’ll even like this, but here goes.” Then Steve pulled out two paintings and handed them to Tony. 

When Steve had asked to show Tony something, this is definitely not what he was expecting. Tony was at a loss for words, he knew exactly when each moment had happened from the paintings he was seeing. He tried to fight back the burning sensation in his eyes. It was ridiculous but it had been so long since someone had thanked him, let alone gone to such lengths to be so thoughtful. 

Before he could second guess himself he put the paintings down and hugged Steve tightly. 

Steve stiffened in surprised and Tony panicked, horrified that he overstepped. As he started to back away Steve relaxed and tightened his arms, wrapping Tony in a bear hug. 

When they let go Tony said, “Steve, this is the first time in a long time that anyone has been this thoughtful and caring towards me. The paintings are beautiful, I’m going to keep them in my workshop and room. Thank you so much.” Tony said while looking right at him, smiling widely. 

Steve just smiled back bashfully, “Well I’m glad you like them Tony.” Steve said, “And now that I’ve got you out of the workshop what do you say we order in some Chinese?” 

“Wow Steve, trying to butter me up with gifts but you really just want my undivided attention don’t ya?” Tony teased. 

“Damn Tony you just figured out my secret.” Steve shot back. 

—-

Two weeks had gone by and Steve hungout in Tony’s workshop regularly. Tony was so surprised by this, normally anyone who came down would leave as quickly as possible without seeming rude. 

Tony couldn’t remember a time when he had company like this in the workshop and on top of that, Steve genuinely seemed to like Tony. They were quickly becoming friends and started to learn new things about each other. 

He found out that Steve was excellent at card games and at chess, because when he was sick that’s what he did with Bucky to pass the time and they taught his team how to play during the downtime in the war in the 40s. 

Steve found out that Tony was an excellent piano player and had even written some of how own music. He said it was because his mom had spent whatever time she could to teach him. She also taught him to speak Italian.

Tony found himself for once, to be caught up with work, with the exception of one project for SI. He decided to venture out to go find Steve, when he didn’t find him in the common room he asked Jarvis,

“Jarvis, Where is Steve?” 

“He is currently working out in the gym, although based on his routine I would say he’s close to finished.” The AI supplied. 

“Cool, ask him if he wants to come hangout after he’s done. I have an idea.” A moment passed.

“He says he will be here in half an hour.” 

“Excellent. That’s all the time I need.” 

—

Steve walked into the common room with a smile on his face, he wondered what Tony was up to.

“Hey Tony what’s up? You wanted to hangout.” 

Tony held up a finger, he was finishing up a phone call “Yes yes, that is perfect thank you so much.” 

“So Steve, how would you feel about coming with me tonight to MoMA?” Tony asked delighted. 

“MoMA?” Steve asked confused, “What’s that?” 

“Only the Museum Of Modern Art! I rented out the place so we wouldn’t be bothered. What do you say?” 

“Are you serious Tony? That’s amazing yes of course I would love to go! Wow I can’t wait, let me just go change my clothes to something fancier.” And just like that Steve was off. 

—- 

Steve met Tony down in the lobby in a nice suit. He caught Tony staring for a moment before ushering him in the car. 

They sat with their legs close again, despite the abundance of room, before they finally made it to the museum. 

Steve was captivated, there was so much incredible art, Steve however asked Tony if he knew what the meaning of a painting was. It had an equal symbol in rainbow colors with incredibly detailed male hands holding onto each other. 

“Oh that’s in support of LGTB community. Basically the artist supports Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders. They are showing their support for people to love who they want, no matter who they are.” Tony said nervously, he didn’t know Steve’s stance on the matter, but considering when he was born he imagined it wouldn’t be good. 

“I’m glad to see the world has changed for the better.” Steve said seriously, “When I was a kid I was forced to hide who I was. I’m glad to see for the most part people don’t have to do that anymore.” 

“What do you mean you had to hide who you were?” Tony asked instantly curious.

“Oh well I am attracted to both Women and Men. I think that’s what Bisexual means?” Steve asked. 

Tony was shocked to say the least, “Wait, seriously Steve? You aren’t straight?” 

“I know it’s hard to believe, but we did exist back then too.” Steve smiled “And I know people would like to think of Captain America as a straight man but I can’t help who I am. I met too many amazing men during the war, I quickly figured out I wasn’t limited to gender.” 

“Wow well, that’s great that you’re comfortable saying it out loud. I figured something like that would be hard.” Tony said although he was internally reeling/screaming. 

“It still is to an extent, I tend to be more private but I’ll support this cause as long as I am alive.” 

“That’s great! Maybe you could come with me to a pride parade if you’re ready, because I’m bisexual too.” Tony said while looking down. “And it really does do wonders to help the cause when famous people show up. Can’t imagine what would happen if you did.” 

“I would love to Tony.” Steve smiled. 

The rest of the night was spent looking at incredible art and afterwards Steve took Tony to an old Brooklyn restaurant and treated him to an amazing dinner. They talked about the Avengers as well as sharing other personal stories, they got to know know each other better. Both of them loved every moment of it. 

—- 

The next day the team were all lounging around in the common room. They were about to all start a training exercise together when Pepper walked in the room. 

“Hello everyone, I hope I’m not bothering but I just need to grab Tony for a moment.” She said kindly. 

“Do we have to talk now?” Tony asked “We were about to do a training exercise for the team.” 

“This won’t take long.” Pepper said and walked away. 

Tony got up from where he was sat next to Steve, he frowned and Steve just shrugged in response. 

“What’s going on Pepper? Is there something you need me to sign?” Tony asked, crossing his arms, subconsciously defending himself. 

“No Tony there isn’t anything I need you to sign.” Pepper sighed pinching the bridge of her nose, “I have been asking for weeks that you finish your clean energy stabilizer for Stark Industries and you still haven’t done it.” She said sounding frustrated. 

“I’m sorry Pepper, I’ve been busy with the Avengers business. I have been working on it believe me, I’m almost done.” Tony supplied 

“Really Tony, you don’t have time for that but you have time to take Steve out around the city?” Pepper snapped 

“Hey I was trying to do something nice for him, he deserves it.” Tony said starting to get angry “Besides I deserve my own life.” 

“Okay fine Tony. Why haven’t you told me that you’ve been working on the energy stabilizer for SI?” She asked, “There is no communication! Why haven’t you learned how to balance your time and tell me what’s going on? It’s like you intentionally try to make things harder than they need to be.” Pepper said, angrily, “You need to learn that there are things that come before you. Stop being so selfish all the time and realize you can’t do whatever you want whenever you want.” And with that she walked away. 

—-

After his little “talk” with Pepper, Tony went to the training session. Steve was looking at him strangely, Tony knew that Steve knew something was off with him. 

The training session went great and by the end of it Tony was feeling much better. It felt good to do something right. 

Steve walked up to Tony after they finished, “Hey Tony I just wanted to say thanks for the other night. I had a lot of fun.” Steve said rubbing the back of his neck, then added “You’re so generous Tony, you work so hard.” 

“Oh well thanks Steve. I appreciate that.” Tony said, “Sometimes trying to balance everything out… especially for SI can be just so stressful. Sometimes it’s hard to please everyone.” He said looking down. “If you need me I’ll just be down in the lab. 

Unbeknownst to Tony, Steve had heard the whole conversation between Pepper and Tony. 

—- 

Tony was working away in the lab as per usual. He finally was able to finish the stabilizer and then he emailed Pepper. 

He moved on to other Avengers tech when Jarvis piped up. 

“Sir you have successfully finished the stabilizer. You are already tired from the training session, perhaps it is a good time for you to get some rest.” 

Tony looked up at where he had put the painting that Steve made for him. He smiled fondly, but then frowned, he had to keep his team safe, “Sorry Jarvis but no can do. I have to start more upgrades for tech. Can’t risk anyone getting hurt when I could’ve prevented it.” Tony sighed, rubbing his eyes, “Besides I’ve got to keep those Avengers happy.” 

“Sir, I see it’s hard for you to believe, however they care about you more than you realize.” 

“Haha very funny Jarvis, but trying to distract me won’t work.” He said.

However when he turned back to work, a hologram popped up.

—- 

That night after the training session Steve and the rest of the Avengers-bar one Tony Stark-were in the common room. 

Steve wanted to tell them about the conversation he overheard with Pepper. He wanted them to understand the kind of stress Tony was dealing with. 

“Hey guys,” Steve said unsure of how to breach the subject 

“Hey before you start,” interrupted Clint, “Want to tell us about your date with Tony Stark?” 

Steve’s cheeks tinted pink, but before he could reply Thor shouted in shock, “Captain! Is it true? Are you betrothed to our Man of Iron?” 

Steve sputtered, “Betrothed...what-No guys! This wasn't a date! But I do want to talk to you about Tony.” Steve said quickly. 

“Is he okay” Bruce asked concerned, “I haven’t had time lately to join him in the lab and he does seem to be busier than usual.” Bruce said, “Come to think of it he does seem stressed.” He added concerned. 

“I’ve been noticing Tony looks tired when he thinks we aren’t looking.” Natasha replied neutrally, with just a hint of concern under the surface. 

“Yeah,” agreed Clint, “And you know what else was weird? When Pepper came in I felt like she was mad at him.” 

“How could you tell?” Asked Steve 

“Spy, remember.” Clint said, looking real pleased with himself. 

“Yeah yeah we get it, you’re super skilled.” Said Bruce dryly, “Steve, do you know if something happened?” 

“Well yes. Due to my super soldier hearing. I heard what she said.” Steve grimaced, “She was harsh. She said some things. She called Tony selfish and said that he pretty much does whatever he wants.” 

“What? That makes no sense!” Yelled Clint, “He never does whatever he wants.” Clint shrugged looking down, “I mean I know I joke a lot about Stark. But I know what he does for us. I see how he works to make our equipment top of the line. I know he cares and tries to protect us.” 

“Yes the Man of Iron is not only just a comrade but a brother to us all.” Thor said solemnly, “He gives us not only a shelter but a home.” 

“We have done a pretty shitty job of showing how grateful we are.” Said Natasha. 

“Yeah, Tony is special to us all.” Bruce said, “I don’t think even he realizes how important he is to this team.” 

“There would be no Avengers without him.” Steve said, “Or at least we would be a shell of what we are now.” 

“Hell we wouldn’t even be here now if it weren’t for him!” Exclaimed Clint, “The Nuke would’ve blown us to bits, or it most likely would’ve.” 

“It’s not even just that.” Said Natasha, “I know how good of a person he is. He just cares so much, but people don’t bother to look behind the mask.” 

“How do you know that?” Asked Thor. 

“Spy, remember” Smiled Natasha.

“Masks or not, I know I would die for my brother of Iron.” Thor said putting a hand to his chest. The rest of the Avengers all agreed they would do the same. 

“We should do something to thank him.” Said Bruce. 

Everyone murmured an agreement. 

Steve was inwardly pleased. He was glad his team saw Tony the way he did. 

“Alright enough with this mushy shit.” Said Clint, “Lets watch a movie!” 

Everyone just laughed and agreed, then they all decided to watch Lord of the Rings. 

—-

Tony sat back, shocked at what he had just seen and heard. A mix of pure happiness and disbelief flowed through him. Happy tears streamed down his face, a part of him still couldn’t believe what he witnessed was real.  
Jarvis had pulled up a hologram, which showed a live feed of what the Avengers had just said about him.


	5. Chapter 5

Moments after Tony saw the hologram a warm feeling settled in his chest. He had no idea that that’s what the team really thought. At best, he considered himself lucky to even be part of the team, thinking he was only tolerated because of his money and tech. 

“Do you believe they care for you now, sir?” 

“Yeah, yeah Jarvis, I don’t need an ‘I told you so’.” Tony sniffled. 

The AI stayed silent after that, he knew that was the closest thing to an admission as he was going to get. 

“Hey Jarvis, everyone is still up there right?” 

“Yes Sir, they are still at the beginning of the first Lord of the Rings movie. Glad to see you will be joining them.” The AI sounded way too pleased with himself. 

Tony only scoffed and rolled his eyes at his AI that sometimes he couldn’t believe he had created. 

—- 

As Tony entered the living room a twinge of doubt twisted his gut. He could hear the ghost of his Father’s voice telling him he wasn’t good enough, specifically that Captain America would even find him to be a disappointment. 

This doubt lasted until Steve and the rest of the team saw him. They all smiled at the same time and Thor immediately got up and ran to him, “Brother of Iron, how wonderful for you to join us!” He yelled as he gave him a bear hug that knocked the wind out of Tony. 

“Okay, okay Thor I need to breathe!” Tony said and Thor finally let go. Tony quickly tried to rid himself of his watery eyes at the nickname. 

“Come join us, brother, this movie is amazing.” Thor dragged him over to the couch. Where he wedged Tony in between him and Steve. 

Tony looked at Steve and smiled shyly when Steve said, “Glad to see you could join us Tony.” 

Before Tony could reply Thor grabbed him, “Yes we are all happy to have our brother with us.” 

“Wow someone is being extra affectionate tonight.” Tony said, but everyone could see the huge smile on his face. 

“Yeah who knew the God of Thunder was such a softie.” Clint teased. 

Thor’s expression hardened but he did not let go, “Do not challenge me, Barton, I could fry you.” Thor said in a fake serious tone. 

Tony shifted in Thor’s hold so he was lying on top of him and Steve reached to grab Tony’s feet so they rested on his lap. 

They smiled like idiots to each other and Clint just rolled his eyes, mumbling, “Jeez, can’t they just get a room already.” 

It was one of the best nights Tony could remember having. 

—- 

Steve sat at the kitchen table sketching, it was one of those nights. The clock read 3:15 am and Steve sighed, time seemed to be moving incredibly slow. 

Thanks to the super serum, Steve naturally didn’t need as much sleep as the average person. Unfortunately that meant that some nights he simply wasn’t tired and that allowed his mind to wander. 

Nights like these were usually when he couldn’t stop thinking about Bucky and Peggy and how much he missed them. This was the first night however when he found himself not wishing he could go back. As much as he loved them, he was finding space in his heart for his new team. He smiled when he thought of the other night when Thor, Tony and himself were all practically snuggling with each other. 

However nothing in life could be that simple, as he found his happiness in his new life he couldn’t help but feel that he was betraying his old one. He felt almost disloyal, by being happy in this new life and not being sad that his loved ones were gone. 

He was adding a tree to his sketch of his favorite park in Brooklyn when he heard someone come into the kitchen. 

He looked up to see Tony with a hand to his chest, looking awful and breathing hard. He made a beeline for the fridge, yanking a tub of ice cream out of the freezer. 

“You look like you could use some whipped cream with that.” Steve tried to joke, but it just fell flat. 

“Shit Steve!” Tony yelled bringing his hand up to his heart, “What did I tell you about wearing a damn bell?” 

“Sorry about that.” Steve said, unsure of what to say next, it didn’t matter because Tony brought the ice cream over and sat down next to Steve at the table. 

As Tony scooped rather generous amounts of ice cream in a bowl he thought back on what had happened. He was in the workshop when he finally decided to listen to Jarvis and succumb to sleep. However, there was a reason he avoided it, he had a horrible nightmare about the team dying and then Howard had showed up and told him what a failure he was, how he was still a murder. Then he woke up screaming which resulted in an anxiety attack… 

“-ny! Tony! TONY!” Steve said, shaking him by the shoulders. 

“What? What’s happening?” He rasped out. 

“Tony hold my wrists please.” Steve said gently. 

“What? Why?” Tony asked confused, he must have missed something. 

“Just do it please.”

Tony grabbed Steve’s wrists as Steve said, “You feel that? It’s my heartbeat Tony and we are going to get yours to match mine. In order to do that I need you to help me and breathe with me.” 

“What? I thought someone who leads the Avengers would know how to breathe.” Tony tried to joke despite the panic. 

“Haha very true but sometimes we need help with the small things. Come on Tony match your breaths with mine.” Steve coaxed. 

When it finally worked Tony looked up at Steve but quickly looked away in shame and embarrassment. 

“In my defense I wasn’t down here looking to bother you. I was actually doing what you told me to do and trying to get some sleep.” He said looking down, “However life has different plans and I just can’t sleep without getting nightmares.” He said, running his hands through his hair and gripping it tightly. 

However when Steve didn’t say anything Tony panicked and grabbed Steve’s wrists, “But I’m okay I promise! I have enough energy for missions and to not make mistakes with building tech. Everything I do will be of the highest quality-” 

“Tony there is not a single member of the Avengers who don’t get nightmares.” Steve interrupted. 

That got Tony to shut up. 

Steve sighed, “Tony why do you think we all love movie nights so much? We hate being alone with nightmares so we spend the time together in order to minimize the fear.” Steve gently turned his hands over to properly hold Tony’s, “Sadly, nightmares are just part of being a hero.” 

Tony shook his head “I’m no hero, that’s why I have the nightmares. It’s the price I pay for being a murder.” He said, looking like he wanted to cry. “I just need sleep so badly but I can’t watch you guys die, it’s just… too much.” He said sadly. He then made a move to get up but Steve held firm. 

“Tony I need you to listen to me right now.” Steve said, he sounded almost angry. 

Uh-oh Tony thought, here comes the part where Steve asks him to resign-he shared too much-and now he’s going to lose everything. 

“Tony you are a hero. There is no denying that. Sure you made mistakes before in the past, but so has every member of this team. A hero is not someone who’s perfect, a hero is someone who became something more.” Steve looked down and took a deep breath, “I can’t comprehend why you look down on yourself so much, but I’m telling you, you turned your life around, you saved us all. Tony Stark is a hero.” Steve smiled. 

Tony looked at him shocked and with watery eyes. And in that moment Steve lost his self control and grabbed Tony into a huge hug. 

Tony held on tightly, it felt amazing to be hugged, burying his face in Steve’s chest. He felt better after spilling his guts and the knowledge that he wasn’t alone in his nightmares helped him feel more a part of the team. 

Steve rubbed his back soothingly, “Come on Tony, let’s go rest on the couch. You don’t have to go to sleep but going down to the workshop or drinking coffee won’t help you.” 

It was proof of just how exhausted Tony was when he didn’t protest. He just allowed Steve to lead him to the couch, with his ice cream in his hand. 

Knowing that Tony needed a distraction, Steve pulled out his sketchbook, “Hey Tony, look this is a sketch of my favorite park at Brooklyn, one time Bucky and I thought it would be fun to race to the top so we climbed up the tree but then I ran out of energy and I couldn’t come down so they had to call the firemen to help me. When I got home my ma yelled at me.” Steve said wistfully, “I was in so much trouble.” 

Tony snickered, “I never pegged you for a rule breaker or someone to cause a scene, Steve.” 

“Oh yeah that was me, Tony, I was a real drama queen who needed the spotlight at all times.” Steve said sassily. 

“Ah now it all makes sense! This is why you are the leader of the Avengers. Forget saving the world, you just need the admiration and cheers of adoring fans.” Tony added. 

“Oh darn it! You figured me out.” Steve said face palming, “Now I have to go to Fury and come clean.” 

Tony laughed, “Nah he wouldn’t want to lose his Golden boy.” Then in a quieter voice he added, “Besides if you left, we’d all just follow you-I mean I would at least.” 

“Thanks, Tony.” 

Tony quickly lit up with a wicked grin, “Wait that is a wonderful idea.” He said with excitement, “Steve you have to pretend to quit, I mean Fury would totally shit himself and I could have Jarvis record his panic. Then I could use it for blackmail whatever he threatens to quick me off the team.” He said smiling. 

Steve however didn’t smile, “Does Fury actually threaten to kick you off the team, Tony?” He asked seriously. 

“Well, um yeah.” Tony said looking down, “It’s mostly just to keep me in line. I think he sees me as a liability due to many of my drunken debacles of the past.” He paused, “It’s no big deal.” 

“It is a huge deal Tony!” Steve said upset, “I will have words with him. No one threatens to kick any of my teammates off, serious or not.” Steve said with finality. Then something else occurred to him. 

“Wait a minute, the last time I went to SHIELD I noticed they had Stark tech.” He said realization dawning, “Does he demand you make tech for him? Does he pressure you with the threat of being kicked off?” His question was practically rhetorical. 

Tony didn’t reply and that was all the confirmation Steve needed. He was about to march over to Fury himself and show him the wrath of Captain America when Tony stopped him and grabbed his arm, 

“Hey, hey there tiger slow down it’s 3:30 in the morning.” He said as Steve sat back down, “We can plot to overthrow SHIELD, but it has to at least be at a reasonable hour like 11am.” 

Steve sighed smiling softly, “I just want to defend you Tony. You’ve had way to many people accuse you.” 

Tony smiled, real and genuine “Thanks for all of this.” 

Steve reached out and pulled Tony against him in a half hug, “It’s my pleasure Tony.” 

They sat in each other’s embrace like that for the rest of the night until they both fell into a peaceful sleep. 

—- 

After this it became somewhat of a thing, Steve or Tony would let the other know when they couldn’t sleep. It could be at any obscure hour of the night, but they would always help distract each other until they fell asleep. 

One time, Steve couldn’t sleep so he made his way down to Tony’s workshop (he asked Jarvis if Tony was up) and then mumbled something about not being able to sleep. 

Understanding crossed Tony’s face and he proceeded to explain how his armor worked to Steve and they both felt much better. 

Another night Tony showed up and knocked on Steve’s door. Tony stood there hugging himself and Steve wrapped his arms around Tony shielding him for the world. He then told Tony stories about the war until they both passed out. 

They both learn so much about each other this way, coming together for comfort. Consequently, they become really close friends and the team starts to notice, none of them really mind because there are nights where they all hangout to help each other. 

There are a few nights where they all huddle together in one massive clump, having sleepover in the living room of the tower. 

One night Steve and Thor bake a triple layer chocolate cake for everyone to eat at 2 am… or more like they attempt and Bruce rescues them. 

Steve was drawing at his usual place at the table when Thor comes out looking a bit ragged for a God. 

“Tough night, Thor?” 

“Ah yes my Captain.” Thor said solemnly “I was dreaming of fierce battles long since past.” 

“I’m sorry Thor, I know you must’ve been through a lot.” Steve said sadly. Then he smiled mischievously “Hey how's about you and me try to bake a cake together?” 

“A cake? But neither of us know how?” 

“That’s the fun of it.” 

“Ah then we must partake!” He said joyously, “It is a good way to aid the mind in forgetting our fallen brothers” he added sadly. 

Steve winced and looked down, “Yeah… I lost a really good friend. He was my brother but not by blood.” Steve paused, “He died trying to save me.” 

“Well he sounds like a fine warrior but an even more honorable man.” Thor said resting his hand on Steve’s shoulder, “I’m sorry for your loss, Steve.” 

Steve looked up at Thor, that was the first time he had addressed him by his first name, “Thanks Thor, it means a lot.” He said, smiling up at him. 

At that moment, Tony and Bruce walked in the kitchen, Tony seemed to eyeing the two of them standing together, frowning. 

“Are you guys baking a cake?” Asked Bruce, amused. 

“Why would you do that?” Tony asked “Neither of you have a clue of what to do.” He said crossing his arms. 

“Well we thought it would be fun Steve said lamley.” Steve turned to Bruce, “Care to save us?” 

“Sure why not?” 

That’s how they ended up eating cake in the wee hours of the night. The smell drawing Natasha and Clint out of their rooms. The comfort of family and laughter filled the air. They ate until they were stuffed and sat on the couch together. 

Well everyone but Clint who waited until everyone was seated and then jumped on top of all of them so that he managed to lay across them. 

Tony tried to protest but Clint wouldn’t budge so they all ended up falling asleep on top of each other. 

—-

Steve was sitting in the living room talking to Thor when Tony walked in. 

“Hey Steve I just wanted to let you know that I have a conference trip that I can’t get out of for the next two weeks.” 

“Oh okay thanks for letting me know.” Steve said. 

“I just wanted you to know.” Tony said, half awkwardly, “Of course I can come back in case of an emergency.” 

“Well that’s all fine Tony. Just good luck with all those meetings.” Steve grimaced. “Where will you be going?” 

“I’ll be in Tokyo the entire trip.” 

“Safe travels.” Steve said absently as he turned back to Thor. He showed him a sketch that he had drawn of Thor’s hammer. 

“This is beautiful Steve! What a treasured gift.” 

At this point Tony just walked away, muttering “Well nice to see you too and I’ll see you in two weeks, I guess.” 

—- 

Over the next two weeks Steve really found himself missing Tony’s presence. The tower really just did not feel the same without him. It wasn’t just Steve who felt the change, he could tell that Bruce was really affected by losing his science buddy. 

Natasha and Clint also hated not having their resident genius. Natasha would go to lab when she couldn’t sleep, and Clint missed having someone to prank or at least that’s what he claimed. 

Thor and Steve bonded in those weeks, they went out sightseeing in New York. Thor was very fun to hangout with and he was a hilarious tourist. They went to restaurants and saw new sights together. Steve wished Tony could be there but he would be home soon enough. 

—-

Tony was miserable in Japan. Meetings were a bore, but what’s worse was that things were strained as ever between him and Pepper. Tony wanted to fix it but he didn’t know how. 

He was already on edge due to stupid board members talking out of their asses, having being forced to be polite was not something Tony particularly enjoyed. 

Tony sighed as he sat down putting his head in his hands, his first instinct was to call Steve and vent but he thought back to a week prior… Steve had been hanging out with Thor more lately and Tony didn’t know why that pissed him off as much as it did. 

Other than that things had been going really well. When Steve threatened to take down Fury that had meant the world to him. Steve was his best friend and was proving to be such an incredible person. He didn’t like sharing his friend! No way no how. 

Tony rolled on his back onto the bed and decided to call Rhodey. He hadn’t heard from his friend in a while. 

Rhodey picked up on the third ring, 

“Hey Honey Bunch! How are you doing?” 

Rhodey just rolled his eyes, “I’m good how are you doing Tones? Heard you were in Tokyo.” 

“I’ve been really good lately. Things with the team have been great. Wait how did you know I’m here? Aren’t you usually away on some super secret mission?” 

“Like you can’t just hack in to our database and find out anyways” 

“What? Who me? Never, Rhodey Bear.” Tony said in mock innocence. “Just making sure they’re treating you right Honey Bun.” He joked. 

“Missions have been going well. I think I’ll have a week of so off at the end of the month. Hopefully I can see you.” Rhodey said smiling. 

“Oh yes that sounds great! I can take you to this new burger place that’s supposedly very good. Maybe I can convince you to stay.” Tony winked. 

Rhodey just rolled his eyes in reply, “Haha very funny Tones,” then he added, “Also, I knew because Pepper told me. We’ve been talking regularly, she keeps me updated on everything. I’m actually supposed to tell you to behave please. Things have been… complicated lately haven’t they?” 

Tony didn’t like the idea of two of his closest friends talking-what felt like-behind his back. Besides he thought one of the reasons Rhodes didn’t reach out was because he was busy. Turns out he just didn’t want to talk to Tony. 

“Well it’s good to see you two are getting along just fine. Thought you were busy on missions and that’s why you couldn’t talk. And yes things have been strained but it’s not my fault.” Tony said defensively. 

“Oh come on Tones I didn’t reach out because I know you’re always busy in the lab or with SI. And I just meant take it easy because Pepper does do a lot for you and you take her for granted most of the time. You can be a handful sometimes too.” Said Rhodey. “Just try not to give her a hard time for once and your week will go better.” 

“I don’t take anyone for granted.” Murmured Tony, “You know what I have to go, I need some rest, I’ll talk to you later Rhodey.” 

“Tony wait I-” was all that was said before Tony ended the call. 

Rhodey didn’t even try to call back or send a message.

Tony laid back on the bed, even more dejected than before. He sighed and ran his hand over his face, he really couldn’t wait to get home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter will be featuring Tony giving the team some gifts from Japan, these all contain actual parts of Japanese culture but a lot of them have details that I threw in for the sake of the story. I realize that most of these things would be impossible to get in real life but hey if anyone could do it, it’s Tony Stark.

One of Steve and Thor’s many tourist escapades ended quite eventfully. Steve and Thor were on their way through Central Park when Thor had an idea. He thought it would be good for the “decor” of the park if they had a lighting show. 

This is how Thor and Captain America ended up on the news for causing an “intentional natural disaster,”. The disaster part came from the downpour after the lighting and the flood of mud throughout the whole park. 

A picture of a distraught Captain America covered in mud and a smiling Thor in a tourist hat was on every internet site the next day, and the next week for that matter. 

—-

After they had managed to somewhat clear the park of mud Thor and Steve were laughing hysterically at what just happened. Even Steve has a sense of humor, at it was nice to make memories with his new family. 

They were dripping mud in the common living room when Tony walked in, he was holding his suitcase. 

“So… I saw the news, you guys made headlines tonight.” He said crossing his arms. 

“Brother of Iron, you have returned!” Thor shouted. 

“Are you sure this was a smart move? Why aren’t you guys thinking? We all are the faces of the Avengers and we can’t be out there doing stupid stuff!” He said looking a mix or stressed and….hurt...? 

“Tony… it’s no big deal. I already talked to Fury, he says aside from us being covered in mud it’s not that bad. It’s good for the public to see the more human side of the Avengers.” Steve said, feeling silly trying to defend himself covered in mud. 

“Yes Brother of Iron, we were only trying to please the people.” Thor said joyful. 

“That doesn’t change the fact that it was irresponsible, people could’ve gotten hurt and you two look like idiots!” Tony said growing more angry. “And of course Fury gives you two a free pass, if it were me he would’ve had my head.” He said and walked away.

Before he was out of sight he said, “And please take a shower before you stink and dirty my floor.” 

—- 

The next day Steve was in Director Fury’s office. 

“Captain Rogers,” he said nodding, “What can I do for you?” 

“Director I just wanted to make sure what happened yesterday truly isn’t a problem.” Steve said looking down.

“If it were a problem, trust me I would’ve told it to you straight away.” Fury said sitting down and motioning for Steve to do the same, “Any reason you’re asking me again?” 

“Well, it’s just Tony brought up that it was reckless and we may have made the Avengers look bad.” 

Fury scoffed, “Stark really said that?” He said rolling his eye, “If anyone is going to do that to the team it’s him.” 

“Why would you say that Fury? He’s done nothing but save our asses, and besides Thor and I were the ones who screwed up yesterday.” He said, starting to get angry. 

“Does matter? It’s Stark we are talking about, he’s irresponsible and selfish and it’s only a matter of time before he screws up.” Fury said shaking his head. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have other matters to attend to.”

—-

To say Steve was mad was an understatement. He called a team meeting, besides Tony, to explain what Fury had said and what they were going to do about it. 

Once he finished telling the team, they were all supportive. 

“Yeah I may have noticed that Fury has been unfair to Tony. I wanted to tell you guys sooner but wasn’t sure what to do.” Clint said 

“We must help our brother or Iron!” 

“I have tried to change the recommendation on my original assessment of him. I wanted to put them as both recommended, because my original report was biased.” Natasha said with a practiced neutral tone, “However he wouldn’t let me touch it, some bullshit excuse about needing original documentation.” 

“None of those files even say all the good Tony has done. And he can’t hold Tony to his past, he doesn’t with any of us.” Steve said. 

“We should make Fury change his status!” Clint pipped up, “He is still marked as consultant. We should make him change it to member or co-leader, if that’s okay with you Steve.” 

“That’s absolutely what we should do.” Steve said nodding. We will regroup tomorrow.” 

“I’m so glad we are doing this, I know it will mean a lot to Tony.” Bruce said smiling gently, “I know the big guy will be happy to support.” 

—-

Later that night they all called a team dinner and decided to keep what they were planning a secret from Tony. They wanted to give something to the genius in order to show him their love. 

Of course they tasked Steve with getting Tony out of his workshop, saying that “If anyone could do it, it’s you” with smirks on their faces. 

Tony was working, thinking about how he had snapped at Steve and Thor. He didn’t mean to, it’s just after he found out that Pepper and Rhodey seemed to talk and spend time together without him, it hurt to see Steve and Thor getting close. He felt like everyone was getting along and no one wanted to spend any time with him. He was worried he was losing his friends, and Steve most of all.

“Hey Tony.” Steve said smiling 

“What’s up, Cap?” Tony said “I’m kinda busy.” 

“Oh nothing we are just having a team dinner and it’s mandatory.” Steve said smiling. 

“Sorry but no can do.” He said dismissively. 

Steve sighed, “Tony come on, we are good friends. I know somethings wrong. What is it? Please tell me so I can fix it.” 

Tony sighed, he took a minute “Nothing it’s stupid.” He tried to explain, but then looked up at Steve. “It’s just everyone, Fury, Pepper, Rhodey, they all keep telling me that I’m irresponsible and take things for granted. I’m told to ‘behave or else’.” He said looking down “No one believes in me, or even likes me.” He said quietly. 

“That’s total bullshit Tony.” Steve said and Tony looked shocked. “The team absolutely loves you and I think you know that. And we’d all be happy to tell anyone of them a piece of our mind.” Steve the added, “We are the ones who don’t deserve you. Now come up and come spend dinner with your family.” 

Tony smiled, real, genuine and toothy, “Well I guess I don’t have anything better do do…” smirking, “If you insist.” 

He let Steve pull him up and drag him out but before they left, Tony grabbed a bag. 

—-

They all were beginning to sit around the dinner table to enjoy Bruce’s homemade chili. Tony pulled on Steve’s arm and told him to sit with him. His excuse being, “Hey if you made me come here you’re gonna have to keep me company.” 

Steve just rolled his eyes and said “Okay, Tony.” And turned to look at Thor, who sat on Steve’s other side. 

“You know,” Tony started, “If you wanted a good tour guide, I’m the person to ask. I have access to some pretty cool places. I’d be happy to take you and Thor if you wanted.” 

“That would be great Tony!” Steve said excitedly. “But Thor is a good tourist buddy.” He said smiling. 

“Ah yes! What wonderful times we’ve had these past few weeks.” 

Tony frowned at that, he definitely wasn’t jealous. He let go and tried to have fun.

“Well maybe we can all go out sometime. There’s some places I wanna show you, a lot with good food.” Tony said excitedly. 

“Sounds great to me.” Steve said smiling and staring into Tony’s eyes, probably for too long. 

“Maybe we can go in a week or two.” Thor said. 

“Wait, isn’t that when Rhodey is supposed to come by.” Steve said concerned. 

“How did you know that?” Tony asked, tense. 

“Pepper came by earlier and let us know.” 

“Of course she did.” Tony said, looking down. 

“Tony, we understand if you want to spend that time with him.” Steve said kindly. 

“No it’s fine…” he said looking away, “Doubt he would even stop by to see me if he had the whole year off.” 

Steve wanted to ask him more about that, but he could tell it was something personal that he wouldn’t want to share in front of everybody. 

—-

Once they finished dinner: a quite eventful dinner, Clint and Thor decided to see who could eat the most bread, Clint lost. Needless to say they had a much too happy Thor and overly dramatic Clint. 

“Okay team! I have an announcement to make.” 

“Uh oh this isn’t gonna be good.” Clint murmured. 

“Shush now Legolas.” Tony continued, “As you know, I have been in Japan for the past few weeks, and of course you have missed me dearly.” Tony said overconfident. 

“Best two weeks ever.” Clint said. 

Tony ignored him, “While I was gone I took the liberty of getting you all presents. Little souvenirs, but next time we all can go.” Tony said kind of shyly. 

“Oh my god Stark this is awesome!” Clint shouted, “Show us what’s inside!” 

“Clint calm down.” Natasha scolded, “You aren’t actually five years old.” 

Tony smiled and handed Thor his gift, “Here you go Point Break. It’s an old Japanese hammer. It has a dragon carved into the head and I had the handle carved in with your title in it.” He said, “Hope you like it big guy.” 

“Brother this is amazing! A fine piece of art that will be treasured for the rest of my days.” He said then have him a huge hug. 

“Okay Cint, I got you this Samurai Yumi bow. I thought you would like to add it to your collection. It’s very treasured, but I pulled a few strings.” 

“This is so fucking awesome!” exclaimed Clint. 

“Natasha I got you an original painting of Onna Bugeisha, she’s a-”

“Oh my god of course I know who she is! A badass, powerful female Samurai. Thank you Tony, this is incredible.” 

“The painting also has one of her knives in the back. Not many people knew she used them.” Tony said. 

“Brucie Bear, I got you some Japanese pottery with Jindai-Zakura, their oldest cherry tree painted on it. But the base is lined with gold.” 

“Tony this is so generous, I absolutely love it.” Brice said at a loss. 

“Nah man it’s nothing.” Tony said, deflecting the gratitude. 

“And Steve, I got you a painting from a famous artist named Hokusai. The painting is called Oceans of Wisdom and it is one of the originals, also signed. I really hope you like it.” Tony said nervously. 

Steve got up and hugged him, “This is absolutely incredible. You did not have to do this.” He said with a smile. 

“It’s not biggie. A guys gotta take care of his team.”

—-

Later that night, Tony wandered out into the common area. He was so glad the team loved the gifts, he wanted to show them that he cared.

He was also looking for Steve, it had been too long since they got to hangout, and things with SI had been so stressful. He saw Steve sitting on the couch watching TV and sat down next to him. 

“Soooo…” Tony said looking nervous, “I just wanted to apologize for lashing out at you yesterday. I was stressed and things were just piling up.” Tony looked apologetic, “I took it out on you and Thor and I’m sorry. I already apologized to Thor but that guy couldn’t even remember me being mad.” He laughed nervously. 

“Tony it’s fine, I understand. It was childish and we weren’t sure how Fury was going to take it. It’s all good, no worries, we are fine.” He said smiling. 

“Okay good.” Tony said shifting, “Because I have something else for you since you’re my favorite.” Tony said, pulling out a necklace. 

“It’s a star necklace. I picked it for you because of the rare blue and because of your symbol as Captain America. On the back it has the Japanese dragon Ryūjin.” 

“It’s beautiful, Tony. Absolutely stunning.” Steve said, grabbing Tony’s hand, “Thank you for everything Tony. We don’t deserve you.” 

Tony looked down, smiling shyly, “Yeah, yeah. It’s no-”

“-Big deal, I know but, it means the world to us.” He paused, “You mean to the world to us.” 

Tony locked eyes with him then and saw nothing but honesty. 

“Ditto.” He said as he squeezed his hand.

—-

The next day, all of the Avengers-minus Tony Stark-marched into Fury’s office. 

He raised his eyebrow in question, all of them held steely, determined gazes. 

“Director,” Steve said, by the tone of his voice, Fury could tell he was speaking to Captain America, “We need to talk to you about Stark.” 

“Ah have you all come to your senses then?” He said, clearly meaning wanting Tony off the team.

“We have,” Said Natasha, “We want to change his recommendation in his file and we are going to change his status from consultant to co-leader.”

“And what makes you think I will do that?” Fury scoffed, crossing his arms. 

“Because he deserves it.” Clint said. 

“He’s more than earned it. And he has the support of me and the big guy.” Bruce said, smiling wickedly. 

“He is our brother of Iron.” Thor said. 

“We will fight for this. And I am way passed asking for permission.” Steve said. 

—-

They got back to the tower with satisfied grins on their faces. 

“Well that oughta be our most successful mission yet.” Clint said

“Haha very funny Clint.” Said Bruce. 

“I have to say, Fury’s scared face was a sight to behold.” Natasha said smiling slightly. 

“Jarvis, can you tell Tony to meet us here when he can.” 

“With pleasure, Sir.” The AI sounded pleased.

“Jarvis, do you know?” Bruce asked 

“I may or may not hack into shield databases when Sir’s name is mentioned.” Jarvis said slyly. 

“You didn’t tell Tony right?” Steve asked. 

“No, I believe this is a conversation he needs to hear from all of you.” 

—-

That evening when Tony returned from SI, he immediately went to the team. He was a bit worried when Jarvis had told him that they wanted to speak to him right away. 

“Hey guys,” Tony said nervously, “There’s something you wanted to talk about? Is it a mission?” He asked. 

“No Tony there is no mission.” Steve said, standing up from the couch where they all sat. “We want you to look at these please.” He said, handing him several documents. 

“What’s this?” Tony asked, looking down at the papers. 

“It’s just some corrections we had Fury make.” Steve said, serious. 

Tony looked down at the first paper, it was his original assessment except this time it said, “Iron Man: Yes, Tony Stark: Recommended and very much needed.” Tony read in a shaky voice as his eyes started to blur. 

“Turn to the next one.” Natasha said gently

“Tony Stark, co-leader of Avengers, effective immediately.” 

Tony couldn’t believe that his team did this for him, he could barely think. 

“What… how…why?” 

“This is your official change of status.” Steve said, “We talked to Fury, made him understand.” And then added, “Because you are one of us Tony, we take care of our own.” 

“I….” Tony said clearing his throat, “I don’t know what to say, but thank you.” 

“No thanks needed.” Said Clint. 

They could all see the happiness and emotion coming off of Tony in waves. 

“Okay group hug!” Clint shouted. 

They all wrapped Tony in one giant hug, looking like one massive clump. Hugs were interesting with a super soldier, a hulk and a God in the mix. 

“You should have seen the great and mighty Directors face when our Captain said he wasn’t asking for permission.” Thor said proudly.

Tony busted out laughing at that and so did everyone else. 

“Wait, please tell me someone has a picture!” Tony asked excitedly. 

“I may have a few images worth framing.” Jarvis supplied. 

Everyone laughed for the next ten minutes straight. 

After Tony read the documents, a warm happiness he hadn’t felt in a long time settled in his chest. The team all decided to spend time together in the common room after that. 

They all sat together, Steve and Tony next to each other, grateful to have people in their life that they could call family.

Jarvis took a picture of that as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that Fury, Pepper and Rhodey all seem a bit mean right now and unlike how they are Imin the movies. This is for the story but don’t worry I will fix it by the end. I really do like Fury and Tony’s weird friendship...? That they have in the movies.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this! Hope you all enjoy.

A week after blissful living in the tower-a week that included Tony taking Steve and Thor to several secluded areas of New York; as well as a trip to First Friday where Steve and Thor tried everything every food truck had to offer-it was unfortunately necessary for the Avengers to step in for a mission. 

Agent Coulson has briefed them, apparently they had been tracking some bad guys who had been buying supplies for bombs, but they didn’t know who they were working for. These guys weren’t smart enough to know what it took to do it on their own. 

Apparently they had successfully managed to create a killer robot that was set to explode. That’s when Fury decided to call in the Avengers. 

“So until it explodes, it’s just destroying the city?” Steve asked.

“Yes.” Said Agent Coulson, “Your priority is to minimize the damage and destroy that thing as soon as possible.” 

“Okay.” Steve said, “Avengers, listen up.” He said turning to the group, “Thor and I will work on damaging the robot. Stark I need you to find a way to hack into the robot and disable the bomb and Clint and Natasha I need you to clear civilians.” 

“Oh and Bruce you’re on standby, if worse comes to worse, we will call a code green. But for now just try and help Tony figure out the bomb from base.” 

“Any questions?” 

“We got it Cap.” Said Tony. 

“Okay good now let’s get this done.” 

—-

“This metal monstrosity simply will no yield!” Thor yelled, frustrated. 

“Iron Man do you have any progress on disabling the bomb?” Steve asked growing wary. 

“Yes, it should only be a few more minutes… there’s something familiar about the coding in the robot.” Tony said as an afterthought. 

“Just disable it please.” Steve snapped. “Widow, have you cleared the civilians?”

“Clearing out the last building as we speak, Cap.” Widow Said, voice serious. 

Just as Steve was going to rip one of the arms of the robot off, it twisted and shot at the building Natasha and Clint were in. 

“Shit!” He heard Clint shout over the comms. 

“Thor! Go inside and help Clint and Natasha to safety now!” 

“Will do Captain!” As he flew off. 

“Tony I need you to shut the robot down now!” 

“Okay I’m almost done!” He heard Tony grunt, “Okay it’s down.” The robot immediately shut off and crashed to the ground.

“Tony go help Thor and see if there are any civilians in the building. Your suit can detect heat so please go.” Steve said. 

“On it.” 

—- 

After the battle had finished, everyone came out tired but relatively okay. Overall the team had performed as a unit. Natasha came out with a sprained ankle but luckily that was the worst of it. 

Steve always tries to do his best to be the leader. He was luckily enough to cheat death, when all of his family had to die, he was the one who woke up with a new life. Steve refuses to take that for granted, he needs to save lives and be the best leader he can be. 

After they debrief, they all turn in for the night. Steve was walking with Thor when he said, “Great job today Captain. You led us very well in battle.” 

“Thanks, Thor.” Steve said sincerely, “It’s not always easy.” He added sighing. 

“Aye, it takes a strong person. That is why you are perfect for the job.” He said smiling. 

Steve just smiled, so thankful for his friend. It felt nice and scary. Lately they had been bonding and the team was a family, he was afraid he’d lose his second one. 

“Anyways I need to let you know that I will be gone for about a week or two.” Thor said seriously, “I have some business back at Asgard that I must attend to.” 

“I understand, buddy. Just be safe please.” Steve said smiling. 

“Will do. Please let the others know of my absence.” 

“Okay, don’t be gone too long.” Steve said. “Oh and take your phone so I can talk to you.” 

“Will they work?” 

“Tony designed them to work in space in case of a situation like this, so yes.” 

“Alright my friend, I’ll see you soon!” 

—-

Tony stayed in his workshop the night after the mission. He was trying to add a program in his suit that could effectively disable bombs quicker than today. 

“Jarvis we need some sort of code that will disable bombs.” 

“Sir that will take time, we won’t be able to figure all that out tonight. However I will get started on a program now.” 

“Thanks Jarv.” 

Tony sighed and rubbed his face. He thought about the battle, it had mostly gone well, aside from the fact that he wasn’t fucking fast enough to keep Natasha from getting hurt. And oh yeah, the fact that Steve had yelled at him. It didn’t help that he figured out he was having feelings for the other man. There’s no way Steve would ever feel the same, how could anyone like him? He wondered if Steve regretted making him a co-leader. God why couldn’t he do anything right? Now Steve was mad at him. 

He eventually passed out on his workbench due to exhaustion. The only reason he woke up was because Jarvis was speaking to him. 

“Ughhh… Jarvis. What do you want?”

“Captain Rogers would like me to inform you that there’s breakfast for the whole team waiting for you in the kitchen.” 

“Is everyone there?” He asked. 

“Yes Sir.” 

“Fine I guess I’ll go.” He grumbled. 

He made his way up to the kitchen and honestly would probably have won an award for most realistic zombie.

He made a beeline for the coffeemaker before saying hi to anyone else. 

“Well hello to you too.” Said Clint sarcastic as ever and way too chirpy for the morning. 

“Shut up Barton, it’s way too early for this.” Tony spat. 

“Just be happy that you’re one of the few people on this earth that is blessed with my presence.” Clint retorted. 

“Guys come on we are supposed to fight the bad guys, not each other.” Bruce said. 

“You’re the best Brucie bear.” Tony winked at him. 

“Ew Tony, stop hitting on poor Bruce.” Clint gagged. 

“That’s just jealousy speaking, birdbrain.” 

“Okay guys it’s all ready,” Steve said proudly. 

“Yumm.” Clint said. 

They all dug in, talking mindlessly and enjoying each other’s presence. 

“Where’s Thor?” Natasha asked. 

“Oh I wanted to tell you when you were all here, he’s away at Asgard for the next two weeks.” 

“Oh did he say why?” Bruce asked. 

“When we talked last night all he said was that he had ‘business to attend to’.” Steve said. 

“Hmmm was that all he said last night?” Clint winked. 

“Yeah.” Natasha said, smiling slightly. “Didn’t get much taking done, but there are a lot of activities that don’t require very much conversation.” She said smirking. 

“Ha ha, very funny guys.” Steve said, they didn’t miss the faint blush that painted his cheeks. 

Tony frowned at that, in order to change that subject he said, “So Steve, I just wanted to let you know that I’m working on a code to disable bombs that will be part of my suit. I was working on it last night.” 

Steve frowned at that, he had a feeling Tony was overworking himself, and guilting himself for what happened during the mission. 

Before he could reply, his phone chimed and he looked at it seeing a text from Thor. He was just checking in but he did send a picture of Asgard. 

He didn’t realize he was smiling at his phone. When Clint piped up, “Ooh, who is that??” 

Steve blushed. 

“Oh my god it’s Thor isn’t it??” Clint exclaimed.

“Leave Steve alone Clint, he’s probably just checking in.” Bruce said. 

“Thanks Bruce,” Steve said grateful, “And it’s true, he just wanted me to know that he arrived safely. I asked him to check in.” 

“Because he’s your boyfriend...or would that be Godfriend?” Clint asked.

Steve glanced at Tony and he was just frowning and staring at the counter like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Natasha was staring at Tony, smiling like she knew something. 

“No because he’s my teammate and I take care of my teammates.” 

Tony perked up a little at that. “So anyways I have to go back to the lab now.” He said, he just wanted to deal-no sulk- over his crush in peace. 

“Wait Tony can I talk to you for a sec?” Steve said, pulling Tony into the other room. 

“Sure Steve, what’s up?” 

“I just wanted to apologize for yesterday, I was stressed and took it out on you. You did an amazing job, it was no easy task and you did it.” He said putting an arm on his shoulder.

“Thanks Steve, I’ll do better next time I promise.” 

“We all will get better.” 

“Hey.” Steve said, “Why don’t we get out of here? I have an idea.”

Tony slowly smiled, “Sure, why not?”

—-

Steve was so happy that Tony agreed to go out with him. He half expected the man to go hideout in his workshop. He quickly figured out that his excitement wasn’t just coming from taking a friend out, he knew he had feelings for Tony but he didn’t want to mess up their friendship. 

Steve took Tony on his motorcycle to his old home in Brooklyn. 

“We used to live right here.” Steve said pointing to an old apartment building, “I lived on the third floor and Bucky lived on the fourth.” He said smiling full of nostalgia. 

“Wow I can’t imagine living here, it’s like a different world.” Tony said smiling softly. 

“Yeah we used to all try and pitch in and buy each other things that our neighbors needed. We would just call out the windows and someone would pick something up for us.” 

“In my world you just ordered someone to do something for you” Tony said, looking down. 

“Hey,” he said grabbing Tony’s arm, “You have us now. And I’m sorry you didn’t have the childhood you deserved.” 

“Hey it's all good.” Tony said. 

“Oh I have to take you to this restaurant!” Steve said, and before Tony could protest, they were off. 

They ended up getting takeout from an old Thai place, but before they ate Steve made Tony “Hike 50 miles through the wilderness to Steve’s favorite tree.” -Tony’s words, not his. 

Steve just smiled as he pulled Tony by the hand, “Come on, Tony it’s not that much further”

“And you’re starving me Steve, this is actual slavery.” 

Steve rolled his eyes fondly, “Okay relax now, we are here.” He said pulling them both down to sit at the base of the tree. 

“Oh finally!” Tony sighed dramatically, then laid his head on Steve’s lap.

“You wouldn’t last a day in the wild,” he shook his head. 

“Hey I survived months in a cave.” And just like that the mood sobered up. 

“You never really talk about it.” Steve said slowly, “I mean I wouldn’t but if you ever need someone to listen…” he trailed off. 

“The hardest part was knowing I was responsible for putting all of those people’s lives in harm's way, just because I was careless.” Tony said solemnly 

“Tony that wasn’t your fault. You had no idea what was happening, and as soon as you did you stopped it.” Steve said forcefully. 

“There was a man, his name was Yinsen.” He paused, putting his hand over his arc reactor, “He helped me build the suit. And he sacrificed his life for mine, he told me not to waste it.”

“You haven’t Tony.” Steve said vehemently. “You have saved the world, given so much back to it. And you saved me too.” Steve said looking down. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Tony, when I came out of the ice I felt like I had lost everything.” Steve said sadly “By you being such a caring friend, giving us a place to live, updating our tech and spending time with us-with me, you gave me a place to call home, you helped me feel alive again.” Steve said smiling at the end, “Yinsen would be so proud of you.” 

Tony just stared up at him, overwhelming happiness filling him up, “Well I’m glad I could help you Steve, you are aren’t so bad yourself.” He said teasingly. 

But then in a serious tone he said, “Seriously though, you’re the best captain, and friend that I could ever ask for. Thank you Steve.” He said smiling. 

Steve just ruffled Tony’s hair fondly which proceeded to lead to a leaf fight. Then Steve challenged Tony to climb the tree, and they both weren’t playing fair, pushing and pulling each other’s legs to keep the other from wining.

They were laughing hysterically and Tony decided to grab an apple from the tree and throw it at Steve, they both picked leaves from the tree and threw them at each other until eventually Steve gave up, “Okay Tony! You win, I yield!” He shouted and then dramatically flung himself off the branch. 

“Wow Steve, it’s been almost a century and you still can’t properly climb down a tree.” Tony said teasingly and laughing, still having a severe case of giggles. 

Tony climbed down and tackled Steve who was on the ground. They both were giggling like mad idiots and then Tony tried to reach for Steve’s food. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Steve said and tackled Tony to the ground. Tony was laughing so hard and jokingly punched Steve, and then Steve pinned him down to the ground. 

“Okay okay! I yield!” Tony said, when he was unable to get out of Steve’s hold. 

They both laughed a little more and Steve enjoyed seeing the light in Tony’s eyes, he had a hard time remembering seeing him this happy and Steve couldn’t remember being this carefree. 

They talked more about nothing in particular as they ate. By the time they were finished it was evening. And they laid down next to each other to look at the stars. 

—-

The next morning Rhodey came by to the tower. He had spent the last few days hanging out with Pepper and he wanted to see Tony. He knew he owed his friend a visit. 

Tony was on the common floor when Rhodey spotted him.

“Hey Tones… thought I’d stop by to see you.” 

“Rhodey!” Tony said, Immediately going to hug his friend. Yes they had fought, but he was still one of Tony’s oldest friends. 

“It’s good to see you…” Tony said, hesitantly, “I’m sorry about before.” 

“No Tones it was my fault!” Rhodey said “I was trying to tell you something and it came off the wrong way, plus it was a stressful time for you.” 

“Thanks Rhodey.” Tony said, “So I was thinking we could go out to my favorite burger place-or wherever you want- and then we could come back here to catch up.” Tony said enthusiastically. 

“Oh Tony I would love too but I’m actually leaving this evening. I have a flight in an hour but I wanted to see you before I left.” 

“Oh” Tony deflated. “Well that’s too bad.” He said rubbing the back of his neck. “Well maybe we have something here.” 

They walked into the kitchen, “So I heard you received the title as co-leader of the Avengers, that’s big man!” He said clapping Tony on the back. 

“Yeah it is.” Tony said smiling bright. “Steve went in and made Fury change my status. I have a picture framed of Furys ‘scared shitless face’, it’s probably the most valuable thing I own.” Tony said laughing. 

“Well glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.” Rhodey murmured dryly crossing his arms. 

“What?” Tony asked. 

“Tony, it took me a long time to get to the position I earned in the military.” He said crossing his arms, “You have to be responsible, and if you actually care about your team then you’ll take the job seriously.” Rhodey said with a frown. 

“What are you talking about Rhodey? I build them tech and I care so much about my team.” He said defensively.

“I’m just saying that being co-leader isn’t just something to rub in Fury’s face. It’s serious, I mean are you sure you want to do it?” Rhodey asked, “I mean you barely can handle managing a company with Peppers help.” 

“You would know wouldn’t you?” Tony snapped, “You spent pretty much the entire time you were in New York with her.” He added sadly, then he got angry, “Cleary you still just see me as some irresponsible party boy not worthy of your time or of the Avengers.” He said walking away. 

—-

Tony hadn’t gotten to hangout with Steve for a few days and it was starting to affect his mood. Whenever he wanted to hangout with Steve something always came up. The one time he managed to find Steve alone, he was on the phone with Thor. A phone call-may he just add-that lasted hours. As much as he wanted to he mad, he knew Steve deserved the best. He saw how happy Steve got when he received a message from Thor. 

He was taking a rare nap when he woke up screaming from a nightmare about Steve dying. He gasped for breath in bed and then got up to find Steve. He would feel better once he saw that he was okay. 

He went to the living room and was about to ask Jarvis if Steve was awake when he saw Steve talking to Clint. 

“Dude I’m so mad! But it will only be for a couple of days. You should still watch the movie though.” Clint grumbled. 

“Okay Clint I will do it in honor of you.” Steve said smiling lightly. 

“Alright, I’ll see ya in a few days.” 

“Good luck and be safe please.” Steve said as Clint entered the elevator. 

As Steve turned around he saw Tony’s scared expression and quickly walked to the other man. 

“Tony? What’s wrong are you okay?” He said grabbing his shoulders. 

Tony didn’t say anything and simply curled into Steve. “Tony, what’s wrong? Was it a bad dream?” He asked as he pulled Tony into him stroked his back comfortingly. Tony nodded into his chest and hugged Steve tightly. 

“You died in the nightmare.” Tony’s voice was muffled by Steve’s shirt. 

“Oh Tony,” he said hugging him tighter, “I promise that I am not going anywhere, okay you are stuck with all of us.” 

“Promise?” He asked hiding his face in shame. 

“Yes I do.” 

Tony melted him in after that. He looked up and Steve and smiled shyly, “I’m sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me.” 

“It’s okay Tony, it’s normal.” Steve sighed “You care about us and we care about you so if course you are gonna worry.” 

“I worry about you and the team all the time, hence my insanity on the field.” He added to lighten the mood. 

Tony chuckled and rested his head back on Steve’s shoulder. 

“Hey what was Clint talking about when he left?” Tony asked, stepping back from Steve. 

Steve dropped his hands to his sides, “Oh he was just telling me that Fury called him on a last minute mission, he was upset because tonight we agreed that he would be the first person to show me some movie called Wall-e? He says it’s the best Pixar film.” 

“Oh my god that tyrant was going to have you watch Wall-e without me!” Tony yelled indignantly. 

“It’s all good Tony because he said I could watch it without him, and I made my gourmet hot chocolate. Care to join?” He asked, he knew Tony could use the company especially after the nightmare. 

“Oh hell yes! Let me make popcorn and oh! I can melt chocolate over it, trust me it’s the best!” Tony said excited. 

With their popcorn and hot chocolate in hand they began to watch the movie, Tony had little commentary here and there, naturally he loved the movie because of the robots. 

Captain B. McCrea was arguing with AUTO and that part freaked Steve out a little. When AUTO knocked over the captain off the ship Steve asked Jarvis, “You would never do that to us right Jarvis?” 

“Of course not captain!” The AI sounded scandalized and Steve just laughed. 

Steve had loved the movie, it was definitely one of his favorites. The love story between Wall-e and Eva was just way too adorable. He could also relate to Wall-e, sometimes Steve felt older and out of date. He couldn’t get over how cute Wall-e was though!

Once the movie ended Steve and Tony were practically curled into each other. 

Tony was about to turn and thank Steve for hanging out with him, but when he did their faces were only inches apart.

They both locked eyes and in that moment they let go of the fear they had been keeping inside. 

Tony leaned into Steve even though his mind was screaming at him to not screw up a friendship with possibly the best person he had ever known. Unfortunately, that part of his brain won over as he quickly backed away, mortified at what he was about to do. 

Steve was having none of it however because he quickly cupped Tony’s face, “Tony it’s okay, I want this.” He murmured and quickly joined their two faces. 

They kissed, soft and sweet at first. They were exploring, testing the limits. Tony deepened the kids and wrapped his hand around Steve’s neck and ran his fingers through his hair. 

Steve continued to kiss Tony, loving the prick of Tony’s stubble on his face, and the sweet taste of his lips. He pulled away only to nip at Tony’s neck and then peck his cheeks. 

Tony laughed at the tickling sensation, “Wow someone is super affectionate tonight.” He teased, “Who knew the captain was such a softie.” 

Steve smiled, “I am a huge softie for you Tony.” he said grabbing his hand. 

“You know.” Tony said looking at their joined hands, “I know that I have a bit of a reputation, but this is real to me.” He said looking at Steve in the eyes to make sure Steve knew he was serious. 

“Oh Tony I know. It’s real to me too, besides I never put too much stock in the media.” He said, smiling. 

“Are you sure you want this…with me?” Tony asked, looking ashamed, “I understand if you don’t, I mean I’m me and you’re captain America, you deserve the best.” 

“Tony you are the best, id be lucky to call you mine.” Steve replied. 

“I think I’m the lucky one.” Tony said as he grabbed Steve’s face and pulled him in for another breathtaking kiss. 

They both were smiling, high off of pure happiness. They couldn’t believe how lucky they were to have each other.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a whole bunch of fluff, hope you like!

Tony woke up the next morning with a happy sigh. He thought back to the night before, the unexpected reciprocation of his feelings. He and Steve had made out happily until Jarvis reminded Tony that he had a meeting to attend to the next morning. Tony had honestly thought of donating Jarvis to MIT in that moment, but Steve simply kissed his cheek and told him that he would wait for him after his meeting. 

He rolled out of bed with a groan and quickly got ready. The faster he was ready, the less likely Pepper was to get mad at him. Although with the way things were going, it couldn’t get much worse.

Tony sat irritated at the meeting, he was ready for it to be over and wanted to go see Steve already. It was stupid that he even had to go to these things, all people did was talk out of their ass, it was just a waste of his time. 

He snapped back to reality when he heard Pepper announce that the meeting was over. He quickly got up, not wanting to wait a second longer to see Steve, but Pepper stopped him before he could. 

“Tony if you could just wait a second. I would like to speak to you.” Pepper said seriously. 

“What is it Pep?” Tony asked, “I kinda need to be somewhere.” 

“Tony you needed to be here, to be present.” Pepper sighed, “I really don’t understand why you can’t see that.” 

“It’s not that I don’t care, Pepper, I love working and inventing for the company.” Tony explained, “I just have other priorities now, especially with being co-leader of the Avengers.” He said, trying to get through to her. 

“Was that really a good idea?” 

“What?” 

“Being co-leader.” She said, “Did Steve really approve of that?” Pepper asked, emphasizing Steve’s name. 

“Wow.” Tony scoffed, “You and Rhodey really seem to be on the same page.” Crossing his arms over his chest, “Because he feels the exact same way, that I’m not worthy of leading the Avengers.” 

“Come on Tony!” Pepper yelled, “What do you expect? You act crazy all the time, doing whatever you want whenever you want.” Pepper said frustrated, “You act like a child and you think you’re entitled to roll your eyes at the few meetings I make you attend so you can be informed about what is going on in your company. You don’t appreciate anything.” 

“You want to know what I don’t appreciate?” Tony asked, his eyes burning with unshed tears, “Is my two ‘best friends’ accusing me of being selfish and unworthy of being a hero, when I have done a lot of good.” Tony said shaking his head, “God what happened to us? You’re supposed to be my friend, you’re supposed to support me. Instead all you care about is Rhodey, you’re the selfish one.” Tony snapped and then walked away before Pepper could say anything else. 

—-

Steve couldn’t wait to see Tony, he had a hard time believing that last night happened. He got a big stupid smile on his face every time he thought about it. He couldn’t wait to have proper dates with Tony and be in a relationship with a man her really cared about and even loved. 

He sat in the common room sketching, he had a dinner date already in mind but it was much too early to start cooking. He wanted to make Tony his favorite: cheeseburgers. 

A few minutes later Natasha walked in. “Cap, What are you up to?” She asked, sitting down next to him on the couch. 

“Nothing much just sketching, I forgot to ask, how is the ankle?

“Good as new.” 

“Any word from Clint?” 

“Yes don’t worry, he’s well.” Natasha said, “He told me to tell you that he would have contacted you but the mission is sensitive. The only reason he was able to contact me is because we have… means of keeping tabs on each other.” 

“Hmmm sounds like he’s doing just fine then.” Steve smiled, deciding not to question Natasha about her ability to check in, “I like knowing he’s okay.” 

“Cap you don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.” She said kindly, “I see the way you blame yourself if a mission goes wrong. You are responsible for leading us but you are not responsible for our every waking moment, or our actions.” 

Steve sat there floored, he wasn’t used to Natasha being this kind. 

“Cap you aren’t going to lose us the way you lost your family from before.” Nat, added, placing her hand on his knee, “You can take a breath, we are all a team and we all will look out for each other.” 

Steve didn’t know how Natasha would react, but he was willing to risk the bodily harm, he hugged her. 

She reacted stiffly at first, the only one who she openly was affectionate with was Clint. However she recovered quickly and hugged him back. 

“Thanks Nat, you don’t know how much you helped me just now.” He said, his voice growing thick. 

“Of course Steve, but don’t tell anyone I hugged you because then you’ll be in serious danger.” 

“Haha okay, not a word. Got it.” He said pulling back smiling brightly. 

—- 

Tony felt horrible after what happened, God he was such an asshole, calling Pepper selfish. He didn’t mean to say the things he did, he knew what Pepper and Rhodey said was true. 

He wanted to cry and scream from the fight but also from the stress and the fear of losing everyone he loved, he already lost two of his oldest friends. 

He was waiting in the elevator going up to the common floor, he just wanted to go see Steve. Steve always made him feel better, even way before they became so close. 

He rounded the corner into the living room when he saw Steve hugging Natasha. He was sporting a huge smile and looked really happy. 

Steve turned and saw him, smiling even more brightly than before. “Tony!” He said excitedly, getting up to hug him. 

Natasha got up and walked out of the room, sensing this was a moment they needed alone. She hoped the boys had finally got their heads out of their asses. 

“Hey Steve, so you and Natasha-”

“No, none of that Tony,” Steve interjected, “She was helping me out, nothing more. I told you that you are the one I want to be with Tony.” He said, reaching out to grab his hand. 

Tony immediately grabbed and held onto Steve’s hand, tightly. He smiled but it looked pained. 

“Tony what’s wrong? Did Pepper say something?” Steve asked as he sat them both on the couch. Interestingly enough he asked if Pepper said something, not if Tony had done something wrong. 

Tony sighed and decided to open up about his strained friendships with Pepper and Rhodey. It felt good to get it off his chest, and the whole time Steve just listened and held him against his side. 

“Well it sounds to me like there are some big misunderstandings going on.” Steve said. 

“What do you mean?” Tony asked, what other explanation could there be other than they hated him. 

“Well it sounds to me that Pepper is frustrated with you because she feels like you aren’t doing what she’s asking, but she isn’t going to the effort to see what you’re schedule is like outside of SI. You all need to sit down and talk, trust me Tony they love you and care about you, if they didn’t then they wouldn’t have stuck by you all these years.” Steve said planting a kiss to Tony’s temple. 

“You really do know how to make a guy feel better.” Tony smiled, “God I don’t deserve you.” Tony said snuggling into Steve, pressing his face into the crook of his neck. 

“None of that, Tony.” Steve said, “We don’t deserve you, you’re one of the most giving people I know and you do so much without expecting anything back. God you saved all of us.” Steve said, voice full of wonder, “I’m the lucky one here, the world doesn’t deserve you.” He said, holding Tony close and running his fingers through the other man's hair. 

Tony popped his head out of Steve’s shoulder and gave him a shy smile. 

“Hey there.” Steve teased, stealing a kiss from Tony’s cheek. 

“Whenever things get too stressful at SI, with Avengers or just with life I want you to tell me. I want to be apart of every aspect of my boyfriends life. The good and the bad, all of it.” 

Tony beamed at the mention of the word boyfriend and took Steve’s face in his hands. “Yes, yes and yes.” Tony said swallowing a lump in his throat, this time from happiness. “God, Steve I want everything with you, please come to me too, we both need to be equals in this.” 

“Glad we could come to an agreement.” Steve teased. 

“Oh shut it, Rogers.” Tony said as he took Steve’s mouth in his. The kiss was breathtaking, Steve slipped his tongue in Tony’s mouth and Tony moaned in response. He fisted his fingers in Steve’s hair and Steve gripped Tony’s hips. 

Tony broke free of the kiss to catch his breath and then nipped at Steve’s neck. Planting kisses all over the other man. Steve chuckled and then took Tony’s hand in his and raised it to his mouth to kiss. 

They both smiled at each other until Steve pulled Tony onto him. So the other man was lying on top of him, back to chest. Steve rubbed at Tony’s back, massaging him. Tony nuzzled into the touch and sighed contentedly. 

“Thanks, baby” Tony said, cheeks reddening as he realized what he said. 

Steve just laughed in response, “It’s nothing, Shellhead.” Pecking Tony’s cheeks, “I know how hard you work and how stressful things get for you.” 

Tony flopped around in Steve’s hold, so that his front was pressed to Steve’s, “Thank you, for just being you.” 

“You don’t need to thank me, Tony.” 

Tony just wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck in response and placed his head to his chest. 

After a few minutes of holding each other, Steve spoke up. “So I was thinking,” Steve said as he ran a hand up and down Tony’s back soothingly, “That since you’ve had such a rough day, I could make you your favorite: cheeseburgers.” Steve smiled.

Tony’s head snapped up in excitement, “Seriously??? I’ve been dying for those.” His grip around Steve tightened.

“I have all the ingredients ready.” Steve said, but then smiled mischievously, “But I’ll only make my world famous burgers if you’re good.” 

Tony’s smile quickly matched Steve’s, “You know I’m never good, right Steve?” 

“No you’re right, you’re incredible.” 

Tony groaned, “God, Rogers you’re such a sap.” Setting his head back down dramatically. 

“Sorry if this is a dealbreaker.” Steve teased back. 

“Hey Steve?” 

“Yes, Tony?”

“It stopped being a rough day as soon as I saw you.” He said into Steve’s shirt. 

Oh well they could both be saps then. 

—-

They both stood in the kitchen preparing dinner, well more like Steve was preparing dinner and Tony was doing his best to distract him. He sat on the kitchen counter doing his best to steal the fries that came out of the oven. 

“But Steeeeve, baby just let me try a little bit.”

“No Tony you can’t have the fries, besides the burgers will be ready in just a few minutes.” Steve said, trying not to laugh at Tony’s antics. 

“But come on! This is no way to treat your boyfriend.” Tony pouted, blushing slightly at the use of the word boyfriend. 

Steve just sighed and leaned in to give Tony a deep kiss. Tony started to pull him in more- “Nuh-uh, Tony we can’t have the burgers burning.” 

“God, you’re such a tease.” 

“And you love it.”

“Whatever.” Tony said hopping off the counter, “I guess I’ll just go down to the workshop and starve then.” He said smiling. 

He walked around to Steve’s back and wrapped his arms around Steve’s middle, “Please feed me, baby.” 

Steve groaned, “You will be the death of me.” He said, grabbing Tony’s hands and rubbing them. “Go to the table, it’s almost done.” 

Once they sat down, Tony immediately began playing footsie. They both played around until Tony finally took a bite of the burger. 

Tony moaned obscenely at the taste, exaggerating to mess with Steve. “This is the best burger I have ever tasted, thank you Steve. Now you’ll always have to cook for me because no place even comes close.” 

“Will I get paid?” Steve asked, playing along. 

“I can think of a few ways to pay you back.” Tony winked.

Steve just launched a fry at him in response. 

“So, it looks like a burger place is not going to be an option for our next date, because there is no way I can up this.” Tony said.

“Calm down Stark, who says there’s going to be another date?” Steve asked, teasing Tony back from earlier.

“Hey now, I’m the sarcastic one in this relationship.” Tony said, in a warning tone. 

“Wait. How did this go from not even having a second date to a relationship?” Steve asked in fake innocence. 

“You know what Rogers that’s it!” Tony exclaimed as he grabbed the ketchup and squirted the bottle at Steve who tried to duck away. 

They both broke into a fit of giggles and then Tony launched himself into Steve’s lap, kissing Steve all over his face. “Go on another date with me?” Tony asked shyly, as if he was uncertain if Steve would agree. 

“Of course, baby. I’d be honored.” Steve said, kissing Tony deeply. 

Tony smiled bashfully in response and-jeez when did Tony Stark display such emotions? Probably when he fell in love with Steve Rogers.

“Thanks for dinner, it was amazing.” Tony said.

“The first of many.” Steve smiled back. 

—-

The next morning Steve made breakfast for the the remaining Avengers. Steve, Bruce and Natasha all sat around the kitchen island conversing. 

“So I was thinking, that maybe the four of us could all go out and do something together?” Bruce said.

“I think that would be a great idea.” Steve said smiling softly. 

“What would you guys want to do?” Natasha asked. 

“Well there’s supposed to be this fair, it should be lowkey. I thought it would be fun to get out.” Bruce replied.

“Get out where?” Tony asked rubbing his face, he wanted to run up to Steve, but they hadn’t talked about how they would act in front of the others, or in public for that matter. He wouldn’t blame Steve if he wanted to keep it a secret, if he were Steve he probably wouldn’t want people knowing he was dating Tony Stark. All those doubts washed away as soon as Steve spoke. 

“Morning.” Steve said smiling, reaching his hand out to Tony. 

“Morning.” Tony replied shyly, grabbing Steve’s hand and then leaning in and kissing each other lightly on the mouth. 

“Well it’s good to see you two finally got your heads out of your asses.” Natasha said smirking. 

“Aw, congrats you two, I’m happy for you.” Bruce said. 

“Thanks guys.” Tony said, then stuck his tongue out to Natasha who rolled her eyes. 

Tony wrapped an arm around Steve’s waist, leaning into his side, and then asked, “So where are we going?” 

“Bruce thought it would be nice to go to the fair tonight, so clear your schedule.” Steve said. 

“Only if you’re not too busy Tony,” Bruce said sheepishly. 

“For my team? Never.” Tony said smiling. 

—-

This is how, Bruce, Natasha, Tony and Steve ended up attending the fair in New York. They all played different games and it was nice to be silly, though Thor and Clint were missed. 

Natasha was playing the ring toss game and Tony made the mistake of betting that she wouldn’t win. “Perfect aim is Birdbrain’s thing!” He claimed, confident. 

“Are you sure about that Stark? I am a woman of many talents.” Natasha replied smoothly.

“Oh please, I’m sure” Tony said crossing his arms.

However, when Natasha got all of them on the furthest target, Tony was forced to stand there as she threw a pie in his face and had Bruce record it. Tony knew the video would be up by the next day. 

After Steve helped a disgruntled Tony clean up, he managed to win Tony a plush Iron Man toy by hitting the high striker as far as it could go. 

They held close, basking in the happiness of the other. Tony smiled up at Steve and lifted up to give him a kiss. They laughed when Steve removed a piece of pie crust from Tony’s hair, and then leaned in touching by their foreheads. 

Then they walked together, hand in hand to go eat cotton candy with Bruce and Natasha.  
Bruce had also managed to win a prize as well by guessing the correct amount of candy in a jar. 

When Steve asked Bruce how he managed to do that, Bruce just smiled knowingly, “Let’s just call it a scientist’s intuition.”

They all shared one massive piece of multicolored cotton candy. Tony managed to get some revenge by sneakily putting cotton candy on Natasha’s crown that she had one by breaking the record on the ring toss-but he had a feeling Natasha let him. 

They managed to get an employee who didn’t cause a scene, to take a photo of them. A photo that featured Bruce holding his Hulk plushie in one hand and Iron plushie in the other, Natasha on top of Bruce’s shoulders as the reigning queen and Tony and Steve holding hands together with cotton candy. 

A photo that was framed and placed in the common room for everyone to see.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a bit longer and I hope you guys like! Clint and Thor are back and next chapter we might see Tony and Steve get a bit more closer ;)

Another week went by before the Avengers were needed for a mission. Both Clint and Thor were still away and Steve was starting to worry a bit, but he tried not to let himself stress out too much. 

Coulson had called them all in because apparently there were some bizzare octopus looking aliens who were attacking New York. Basically the Avengers were needed since the police couldn’t contain them any longer. 

Steve hated the idea of fighting aliens again, especially without his whole team. Since he and Tony got together, he worried about the other man even more. Despite his feelings he promised himself that he wouldn’t change the way he treated him on the field. It was a tough promise to keep but he knew it would be better in the long run. 

He met up with Bruce, Natasha and Tony on the quinjet. Tony was looking a little pale, he wanted to ask why but he knew now wasn’t the time. 

Steve pulled Bruce aside, “I’m sorry Bruce but this is going to be a code green. We’re already two men down and from the looks of it, the aliens have done some serious damage.” 

“It’s okay Cap, don’t worry about me. The big guy and I have been doing better, oh also remember that serum I was telling you about? I’ll need your help with it soon if you can.” Bruce replied shyly. 

“Oh yes of course, I would love to help you Bruce!” Steve smiled, “But now we need the other guys help.” 

“No problem.” Bruce smiled. 

—-

The battle had gone downhill fast. Hulk was able to take on some of the aliens, but it took so much time to take them down. Tony was surrounding the perimeter and shooting the aliens with his repulsors but they weren’t doing as much damage as he liked. 

“Cap, I’m trying to contain these aliens but they are making their way outside of our secured perimeter.” Tony said, sounding stressed. “Send the Hulk my way please.” 

“I can’t he’s already trying to deal with two rogue aliens.” Steve said breathlessly, while punching an alien to the ground. 

“Shit.” 

“Iron Man, status!” 

“I managed to kill one of them.” Tony rushed out. 

Steve was about to ask him to help the Hulk when a giant octopus alien managed to grab him with his tentacles. They wrapped around him fast and immediately began to crush him. 

“Iron—” was all he managed to get out before his breath was stolen from him. 

“Steve!” Tony called out, immediately blasting over to him and shooting at the tentacle that was gripping his boyfriend. 

He kept on shooting blasts but there seemed to be no effect. Tony was beginning to panic, “Steve, baby don’t worry I’m gonna get this thing off you. Just hold on!” 

“Natasha I need you!” Tony yelled desperately. 

“I can’t Tony, I’m helping civilians escape!” She grunted. “Barely.” 

“Shit shit shit shit!” Tony cursed. He was about to blast the alien with energy from the rector in his chest when he looked up. 

What he saw was a sight he never soon would forget.

He saw Clint flying a quinjet straight towards them with a joyous looking Thor standing on top, lifting his hammer into the air laughing. 

“Hahaha. Be gone evil beasts!” Thor shouted, “You attack my comrades, then you must deal with the God of Thunder!” Immediately blasting a large sum of aliens with his lighting, killing them instantly.

“Thor, buddy I need your help now!” Tony shouted, “This one has Steve!” 

Thor Immediately jumped off the quinjet and landed in front of the alien and managed to wrestle Steve out of its hold. Tony grabbed onto Steve instantly while Thor shocked the alien with his lightning. 

“Good job, buddy now please go kill the rest.” 

“At once.” Thor said and the flew off.

“And Clint?” 

“Yes, Tony?” 

“I need you to help Natasha now, she’s trying to help civilians. She’s on the south side.” 

“On it.” 

“Jarvis scan for injuries.” 

“It appears the Captain has sustained three broken ribs and has passed out due to lack of oxygen.” 

“Contact Medical now!” 

“Steve, come on I need you to breathe for me.” Tony said as he picked up Steve’s head. 

Steve stirred and shook his head before groaning and taking in huge gulps of air. 

“Ah!” He yelled as he tried to take in gallons of air with broken ribs.

Tony lifted his faceplate up, “Easy, baby you have three broken ribs. You have to take slower breaths.” He said gently, grabbing Steve’s hand, “you’re going to be fine.” 

“Mmm Tony, what about-”

“Thor and Clint showed up just in the nick of time, we have it handled. You are going to medical.”

“Mmkay.” He said before passing out. 

—- 

“I can’t thank you guys enough for coming in when you did. If you hadn’t, I have no idea what would have happened.” Tony told Clint and Thor gratefully. 

It had been three days since the battle, and Steve spent them all on bed rest. Thankfully the serum allowed him to heal quickly so he would be back to normal in just a few more days. They all were horrible breaks and had he been human, he probably wouldn’t have survived. 

“Coulson sent me an emergency signal and one to Thor as well. We both came as soon as we could.” Clint said, “You don’t need to thank us man we have to protect our team.” He smiled. 

“Of course.” Thor said “It is a shame we couldn’t arrive before our Captain was injured.” He added sadly. 

“It’s okay guys, just thanks.” Tony said looking down, he still hadn’t completely recovered from the battle. 

“It is alright, brother of Iron.” Thor said and then wrapped Tony in a bear hug. 

Tony simply let himself be hugged and then afterwards went to go see Steve. They hadn’t talked much since Steve had been sleeping practically the whole time he was recovering. 

He walked into the room, expecting Steve to be asleep but instead was greeted by a very alert looking boyfriend. 

“Hey there.” Steve said, he knew they needed to talk. 

“Hi” Tony said, sitting on the bed and fiddling with the sheets. 

“Tony,” Steve began. 

“No need to say it, I know I screwed up.” He said frustrated with himself, “I couldn’t kill enough aliens or keep the perimeter secure… I couldn’t even save you.” Tony said, sadly. 

Steve looked up at his boyfriend’s now shining eyes, “Tony don’t you dare blame yourself! I screwed up, I wasn’t paying attention and I got myself caught. You did what you could do and without you, so many people could’ve been killed. Plus we didn’t even have our full team until the very end. You took over and told Thor and Clint what to do. You did great.” 

“You also helped keep me calm, knowing you were helping me kept me from being scared.” Steve added quietly. 

“You scared the shit out of me, Steve. I want to be mad but, well the only ones to be mad at are the those stupid octopus aliens.” 

“Very true.” Steve smiled, “We can just agree to be more careful next time.” 

“Deal.” 

“Come here.” Steve said, pulling Tony against his side. 

“No no, Steve your ribs-”

“I’m fine Tony.” Steve said, “I would be even better if I had my best fella over here.” 

“God you’re such a sap.” Tony accused, however he all but melted into Steve and wrapped his arms gently around him. 

“I’m not going anywhere Tony, I promise. You’re stuck with your sap of a boyfriend.” He teased, kissing Tony on the temple. “I noticed you were looking a little green before the battle and green only looks good on Bruce.” Steve joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

Tony sucked in a deep breath, “Yeah it’s just aliens and I aren’t really a good mix.” He took another deep breath, “When I found out we would be fighting aliens it made me think of the wormhole. And then leaving you or losing you is just too much.” Tony said shaking. 

Steve wrapped his arms tightly around Tony, “Oh Tony, I’m sorry. Sweetheart it’s okay, you have to look at that experience as you saving the world. I can never know what you experienced, but I do understand sacrificing everything so the world can live. You’re a hero. Don’t wear the wormhole as a chip on your shoulder, wear it as a badge of honor.” He kissed Tony. “And I’m terrified of leaving you and the team or losing you, but we all have each other. We can beat anything, and if we can’t, we will go down together.” 

Tony looked up at Steve in pure wonder and adoration. 

“Sounds like a plan.” Tony said, voice thick with emotion. 

They kissed passionately until they both fell asleep together. 

—- 

A few days later Tony and Steve were in the common room. Steve was fully healed and now Tony wanted to make him watch his favorite show. 

“Tony we can’t, you know we have to do this.” 

“Come on Steve! Let’s go on a vacation then. Have you been to Paris?” He said while pacing back and forth. 

Steve sighed, “Tony as fun as that sounds, you have to talk to Rhodey and Pepper.” He said grabbing his boyfriends hands, “I know you’re nervous, but you’ll feel so much better once you’ve done this.” 

“Or feel so much worse once they inevitably dump me.” 

“That’s not going to happen.” 

“Stay with me?” 

“Of course.” 

A few minutes later Rhodey and Pepper walked into the common room. They sat down across from Steve and Tony on the couch. 

“Tony.” Pepper said.

“Hey Pep.” He said, shifting uncomfortably, “Hi Rhodey.” He stilled when Steve set a hand on his knee. 

“Hello Steve.” Pepper said. 

“Nice to see you Pepper.” 

“Okay now that we’ve gotten past the awkward hellos.” Tony said, “Can we just get to the nitty gritty.” 

“Tony.” Steve said in a warning tone. 

“No it’s okay,” Pepper said. “Look I don’t know what Tony has told you but the long and short of it is that we need him to be more responsible and he feels as if he can act out however he wants.” 

“Look guys I really don’t appreciate you ganging up on me. And Rhodey you don’t even think to question what Pepper is telling you? You just assume she’s right.” 

“I mean when has she ever been wrong?” Rhodey asked. 

“That’s not fair.” Tony interjected. 

“Tony come on! Just admit that you’re wrong and we can move on.” Rhodey said.

“Okay now I think we need a time out.” Steve said. “With all due respect to both of you, you aren’t being fair to Tony. He not only is the owner of SI but he’s also co-leader of the Avengers.” Steve explained, “He makes and upgrades our tech constantly and is a full time superhero who saves the world. I think you can cut him some slack.” 

“I didn’t know that you built them tech Tony, I thought SHIELD or Fury did that.” Pepper said. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I’m sorry Pep, I didn’t want to seem like I’m making excuses.” 

“You have to talk to me and to Rhodey.” She insisted. 

“Look i'm sorry guys. I know I’ve been difficult before and have been lately.” Tony said “But I’m changing my ways and I need you to see that.” 

“Look the reason we have been so hard on you is because we should’ve been harder on you in the past. A lot of mistakes could’ve been prevented and we just didn’t want you to go back to your old ways I guess.” Rhodey said. 

Tony sighed, “I understand. I know I can work on communicating more.” He said apologetically. 

“Look how about no more meetings, press or presentations.” Pepper said. “If there’s something really important we can video chat or I can tell you way in advance. But I’ll summarize and bring all the important things for you to sign and just have you focus on the inventing part of SI.” 

“Pep that would be a lifesaver.” Tony said as he got up to hug her. “I’m sorry for calling you selfish.” 

“I’m sorry too, Tony.”

“I’m sorry for not sticking up for you man. It won’t happen again.” Rhodey promised.

“It’s okay.” Tony said and went up to hug him as well. 

“And I promise to make more time for you.” Rhodes added.

Tony just laughed in response, “Sounds great.” 

Steve sat there beaming, he was so happy to see Tony make up with his friends. 

“Thank you Steve for taking to us and having Tony talk to us.” 

“Of course, Pepper. I know you all need each other.” He smiled. 

Without thinking Tony reached out to take Steve’s hand in his. Steve grabbed back automatically but Pepper and Rhodey both gasped. 

“So you two are…. together?” Rhodey asked. 

Tony immediately tensed, out of fear of his friends reaction and out of Steve possibly not wanting them to know. 

“Yes we are together.” Steve stated confidently and happily. 

“Wow, well who would’ve thought.” Rhodey said smiling. 

“I’m happy for you two.” Pepper said, with a hint of approval. 

—- 

A few days later Tony and Steve went out on another date. Tony took Steve to one of his more private restaurants. They both were enjoying a lovely evening when Steve got a call. 

He excused himself and when he came back he had a frown. 

“So it looks like I have to go on a mission for a few short days.” Steve said. 

“What why?” Tony asked complaining, “We just had that big mission a week ago.” 

“I know babe, but Fury called and said that it had to do with Hydra. It’s not dangerous, I’m just going to find information that they may have left behind. Fury wants me to go because he doesn’t want to let anything get out.” 

“Seriously you could just tell him to fuck off.” Tony said then sighed, “But fine, it’s only a few days. When do you have to leave?” 

“Tonight.” 

“Ugh.” Tony said as he slammed his head on the table. 

—-

It had been four days since Steve left and Tony was missing him. He had busied himself with lab work but eventually came back up to the common area for food. 

He was eating some chips when Clint came and sat next to him. 

“So when were you going to tell me you were screwing our good Captain?” He said casually as he grabbed some of Tony’s Doritos, “Because If Steve made the first move, Nat owes me fifty bucks.” 

“Excuse me Egghead but you have a lot of nerve.” 

Clint just smiled in response

“It is none of your business!” Tony said angrily. 

“Oh come on Tony don’t be like that. Just fess up so I can get what’s owed to me.” 

“Clint! First of all I don’t appreciate you making bets. And who says I’m dating him anyways.” Tony defended.

“Oh please, could you be anymore obvious?” Clint said scoffing, “Anymore gooey eyes and I might actually vomit.” 

Tony sputtered in response, unable to form coherent words. 

“But don’t worry, I support it one hundred percent.” Clint said “I would even more if I got my money.” 

“Glad to have your approval.” Tony said dryly, getting up. “Oh and by the way I’m the one who made the first move so you pay up to Natasha or you can have her come for you. I’m fine with either option.” Tony smiled. 

“Hey!” 

—-

Steve walked into the tower exhausted, the mission was a success but there was some unexpected fighting towards the end. 

He let out a long sigh as he entered the common room. He was greeted by the sight of Pepper and Tony hugging goodbye, he was happy to see that they were getting along better.

“Steve! You’re back.” Tony exclaimed, walking towards him and kissing him on the mouth. “You look exhausted.” He said concerned. 

“Yeah the mission was a bit more tiring than I thought.” Tony frowned, “But I won.” 

“Of course you did.” Tony said proudly as he led Steve to the couch. 

Tony sat down first, his back against the armrest and spread his legs, motioning for Steve to sit between them. Steve sat back and laid his back against Tony’s chest, closing his eyes. 

Tony began to rub his back and massage all the tension away. “Thanks Tone, that feels amazing.” 

“No thanks needed. Tell me about your day or the mission if you want.” 

“God you two are such an old married couple.” Clint mocked. 

“Get lost, Birdbrain.” 

“Tony, be nice please.” 

“I am nice.” Tony said as he rubbed a particular large knot out of Steve’s back. 

Steve moaned in response, “Oh that’s perfect, Tony.” 

“Glad to be of service.” 

—-

After about an hour or so of Tony being an angel of massaging Steve and talking to him, Tony said there was something he wanted to show Steve. 

“What is it Tone?” 

“You have to see-well actually hear it to believe it.” 

Tony took Steve to a room he had no idea existed: a music room. 

“So, uh, I don’t really go in this room much but, what can I say? I’ve had a lot of inspiration lately and a lot of good things in my life.” 

“Tony?” Steve asked confused. 

“Remember how I told you I could play instruments? Well my mom taught me piano and I wrote this for you.” Tony said looking nervous. 

Steve sat down and Tony sat on the bench in front of the piano. He took a breath and began to play what Steve knew was the most beautiful piece of music he had ever heard. It was a happy song, that much Steve knew and from the looks of it very complex. 

Once Tony was finished he said, “I wrote it for you, it’s about you. I hope you like it, it’s how you make me feel when I’m with you. Just so happy and free and inspired. It’s called ‘Blue Sky’, cheesy I know, but you can’t tell anyone, I’ll deny it to my dying day-oof” he said as Steve barreled into him and slammed his lips into his. 

They kissed for a full minute before Steve pulled away, “Tony that was the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard in my life. It was incredible and I wish I could give you something half as good, because you deserve it. God I loved it, how could I not?” 

Tony smiled shyly, “Well I’m glad that went well because there’s something I want to ask you.” 

“Anything.” Steve said. 

“Well, um, I just want to start off by saying no pressure and technically you already live with me in the tower, but uh, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to move in with me? Like in my room, I mean we can share a room that is…?” Tony trailed off, nervous. 

“Wow, of course I would want to!” Steve exclaimed, “I mean I was going to ask you the same thing pretty soon anyways but I would love too.” Steve said happily. 

“So it’s official.” 

“I guess it is.” Steve said, “Now we can say ‘good morning’ and ‘goodnight’ together everyday.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is where the smut actually happens. It doesn’t happen until later in the chapter but I did want to warm you. This is my first time writing smut so I hope you like it! The —- are longer separating those scenes so you can skip it if that’s not your thing. I really hope you guys like it!

Steve woke up in the late morning next to Tony, he couldn’t help the smile that crept up on his face. Yesterday had been so special and now he and Tony were sharing a bed. He didn’t know how he ended up this lucky, but here he was. 

He stretched his arms and as a result Tony began to stir. Tony reached a hand to Steve’s chest and mumbled out, “Mornin’...” while smiling softly. 

“Morning shellhead.” Steve smiled, pecking Tony on his cheek. 

Tony looked up to Steve and smiled broader, “So… are you still sure about this?” 

“Of course Tony, I have a few things I need to bring in here but I honestly can’t wait to officially move in with you.” Steve smiled.

“Good.” Tony said, moving up to straddle him while also taking Steve’s face in his hands, “I just want to make sure, I don’t want you to feel pressured or—”

“I promise I wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t ready. Are you sure you’re ready? Or have you gotten sick of me already?” Steve teased. 

“Oh I could never get sick of you, Rogers.” Tony smiled mischievously, “Plus I can think of a few ways to keep us from getting bored.” He said as he leaned in and kissed Steve deeply. 

Steve moved his hands up Tony’s back and pulled Tony closer. He slipped his tongue in Tony’s mouth and cupped the back of his head with one hand. 

Tony broke away, on account of needing to breathe and smiled hugely, making the corners of his eyes crinkle a bit when he was genuinely happy. 

“God you’re so gorgeous.” Steve whispered in awe, as he lowered his hands to Tony’s waist. 

Tony blushed and looked down bashfully. 

“Wait a minute did I just make the Tony Stark blush?” Steve asked in mock shock. 

“Oh shut up.” Tony said, turning away, “It’s different coming from you.” He said seriously. 

“Why?” Steve asked, “People must tell you how good looking you are like a million times a day.” Steve said, his hold on Tony’s waist tightening a bit. 

“May as well be the very first time someone’s told me.” Tony said quietly, “Because no one's ever meant it the way you do.” He paused, “And it’s never meant as much as it does to me now.” He smiled shyly. 

Steve smiled brightly and began to peck Tony all over the face until Tony broke away with laughter. 

—-

“Okay so obviously we need to build a bigger closet because we need to get you a whole new wardrobe.” Tony declared with finality. 

Steve just laughed and shook his head, “Come on Tony are you serious? My clothes are just fine.” 

“They are archaic and a disgrace.” Tony said dramatically, “Besides, you’re dating me now and that comes with the bonus of having the best designer brands at your disposal.” 

They were in Steve’s room, trying to figure out what to take to Tony’s penthouse. Steve didn’t have many possessions, a few photos, a lot of paintings and a few miscellaneous items. There wasn’t an issue until they had reached his closet, which Tony decided needed to be redone with a whole new design. 

“Tony I really don’t need anything extravagant. I’m open to changing my look a little bit, to be more modern but I don’t want super expensive or flashy.” Steve felt a little bad saying it but he just wasn’t the same as Tony when it came to style. But he as pretty sure Tony wasn’t saying he looked old, he knew his boyfriend had a really giving heart, it just came out wrong sometimes. 

“Okay Steve.” Tony said looking a bit affronted and crossing his arms against his chest. 

Steve sighed, “Look Tony I’m not trying to be ungrateful here, I know you want to help me.” Steve said, reaching out grabbing Tony’s hands, “I just need to move a bit more slowly, I don’t want to change the way I look right away. But I’m definitely open to maybe a few shopping trips.” Steve finished smiling. 

“Okay, yeah I understand.” Tony said smiling softly, then tightening his hold on Steve’s hands he added, “There just isn’t a gift I don’t want to give you. God knows you deserve the world. But I’ll try not to be extremely overwhelming.” 

“Thank you.”

“No promises.”

Steve laughed, “I would expect nothing less.” 

After that they managed to move most of Steve’s possessions to-now his and Tony’s-penthouse. The team had seen them in passing and had quickly caught wind of the situation. They decided to help Steve and Tony move the boxes up, with a bunch of teasing as payment of course. 

“God Steve I never knew you could make Stark as old as you. You’re basically an old married couple now. Should we get you walkers for our next mission?” Clint asked. 

“Shut up birdbrain.” Tony snapped, “I could revoke your residency.” He threatened. 

“Why? Are you worried I pose a threat as competition against you.” He winked at Steve and stuck his tongue out at Tony.

“Ah yes that’s what I’m worried about since you’re so good looking.” Tony said sarcastically. 

“Um clearly he doesn't go for looks,” he said staring pointedly at Tony. “He goes for intelligence and I for one happen to be the smartest in the room.” Clint said confidently. 

Everyone in the room scoffed, except for Natasha, “One more word out of you and I’m making you sleep outside.” 

“Natasha you wound me.” Clint said, faking sadness and placing a hand to his chest. 

“Speaking of, did Clint tell you I made the first move?” Tony asked Natasha. 

“Did you now?” Steve butted in, smirking at Tony. 

Tony turned to Steve shocked but before he could say anything Natasha spoke up. 

“What, he told you about the bet?” Natasha asked, “And more importantly, Clint you owe me!” 

“I for one am very happy for my Brother of Iron and our dear Captain.” Thor interjected happily. 

“Thanks Thor.” Steve said gratefully 

“Yeah thanks big guy.” Tony said after. 

Steve never failed to notice how happy Tony’s eyes got whenever Thor called him brother. 

No one caught Bruce mumbling, a mix of exasperation and affection, “And yet we are the people they trust to save the planet.”

—-

After a few hours of moving stuff in and out of boxes they finally were finished. The penthouse was now a mix of Tony’s extravagant design and Steve’s softer homey touches. Many of Steve’s paintings decorated the walls. Tony also had Jarvis print out a bunch of photos of him and Steve as well as the team together to decorate around their room. 

“We can go furniture shopping if you want!”  
Tony said excitedly. “We can really make this place ours.” 

“It already is.” Steve said, pulling Tony to him by the waist, “But yes I’d love to go shopping with you.” 

“Cool, maybe we can go later at night, I know a few places that are upscale and discreet or we could just shop online if you want-have Jarvis combine our tastes and organize our best options.”

“Whatever you want is good with me.” Steve smiled, still having a hard time believing he was going furniture shopping with Tony Stark, his boyfriend. 

“Mmm” Tony hummed, then pulled Steve in for a deep kiss. When they pulled away they both spoke at the same time, 

“I was think—”

“Would you want—”

“You first.” Steve said smiling. 

“Well I was wondering if maybe you’d want to… christen our bed? I mean there’s no pressure and I don’t want you thinking that I wanted you to move in with the expectation that we sleep together but I was thinking a little-well actually a lot that it would be really nice to be closer to you and you know what? Just forget it. Fuck Steve I’m sorry I don’t want you to think that this was what the whole writing a song and asking you to move in was about and—”

“Tony tony relax, I’m not mad.” Steve said, placing his hands on Tony’s shoulders, cutting off the downhill rambling, “I definitely don’t think that that’s why you asked me to move in. I know you aren’t like that and I never will think that.” Tony Immediately relaxed. “I was going to ask you about the same thing, I really want to be closer with you. I would love to, tonight or any other night.” Steve said, cupping Tony’s face and kissing him deeply. 

———————

Tony really couldn’t believe that he was nervous—well actually he could. Even though he had a reputation of being a playboy, it really wasn’t all that true. With the exception of Pepper, all he had was a string of one night stands of meaningless sex. And well, everyone knew how things ended with Pepper. 

Now he was in the most amazing relationship of his life and he wanted it to be perfect. He couldn’t mess this up or he wouldn’t forgive himself. 

So yeah, he was nervous because it mattered. 

Besides the nervousness all he felt was happiness, he was about to become one with the person he absolutely adored. One look at Steve’s beautiful smile, and all the nervousness was out the window. 

Steve and Tony were currently making out on top of their bed. Tony mumbled out, “Condoms and lube are in the bedside drawer.” 

“Mmm.” Steve said in reply as he went to grab the lube from the drawer. 

Steve momentarily pulled away to grab the supplies but then stopped, “Um Tony, I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable or anything but, do you want to use a condom?” He asked, when met with silence he hastened to explain, “I can’t catch anything and I can’t give you anything either. I’m clean but still I don’t want you to feel obligated—”

“It’s okay Steve, I agree, besides I’m clean anyways. I want this.” Tony said resolutely and filled with love.

“Do you want to be the top or…” Steve asked, letting the question linger. 

“Bottom. I want to feel you in me.” Tony said, then pulled Steve in for another kiss. 

Steve kissed back and then pulled off Tony’s shirt and boxers and Tony did the same for him. 

Tony was temporarily stunned by Steve, he was beautiful and perfect and all his. He ran a hand over Steve’s chest, exploring. The he cupped Steve’s face and Steve closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. Tony kissed Steve’s collar bone and throat then his mouth. 

After Tony was finished, Steve made quick work of kissing every inch of Tony’s chest, however when he got to the arc reactor he felt Tony freeze. 

“Tony?” Steve asked confused and concerned. 

“It’s nothing.” Tony said looking away. “If you want I can put my shirt back on to cover it up.” 

“What?” Steve asked shocked, “Tony it’s not ugly or wrong. I think it’s beautiful and it’s a part of you. Anything part of my Tony is gorgeous and it shows just how far you’ve come.” He said, then he planted a kiss right at the center of the reactor, bringing a hand up to worship and explore. 

Tony was moved beyond words. Everyone he had ever been with always hated the reactor and so did he. Tony knew it was a lasting reminder of all the lives he took. Apparently, Steve didn’t see it that way. 

“Steve…” Tony said, eyes gone suspiciously wet. “I don’t… Thank you.” He said and pulled Steve in again, gripping his hair in his hands. 

The kiss was passionate and breathtaking. Steve didn’t need anymore explanation from Tony, they were both overwhelmed in the best possible way. 

Before uncapping the lube, Steve wanted to make this extra special for Tony, so he brought his face to Tony’s crotch. He spread Tony’s thighs and began licking lightly around his hole. 

“Ohhhh…” Tony whispered out. 

Steve began to add more tongue and then licked lightly at his balls, teasing with a hint of teeth. Tony began wiggling around even more in the bed. 

Steve began sucking at Tony’s hole, swirling his tongue around it and then inserted his tongue all the way inside. 

“Ahhh Steve! Feels so good!” Tony yelled out in pleasure. 

Tony tried to fuck himself on Steve’s tongue and face but Steve held his thighs down firmly. Tony whined at that but didn’t do anything other than moan and writhe. 

Then Steve pulled away, uncapping the lube and began to spread it on his fingers, he moved his hands to Tony’s hole, massaging the area around it. 

Tony moaned in response and trusted towards Steve’s fingers, clearly inviting him to do more. “God Steve, you’re such a tease.” 

Steve chuckled in response and then slowly pushed a finger into Tony, making sure not to go too fast and also looked for any signs of discomfort. 

“More Steve, please.” Tony moaned out. And pulled Steve closer. 

Steve added a second finger, then a third, scissoring Tony and stretching him out. Tony was so tight and Steve was so hard, he would never forget the sensation of feeling him. 

Tony was writhing underneath him, his dick leaking precum against his stomach. “Steve, I’m ready, I promise.” He cried out, “I want this.” 

Steve didn’t need to be told twice, he lined himself up with Tony’s hole and waited a moment to take a breath before pushing all the way in. 

They both moaned out at the sensation of joining. Tony clenched and unclenched around him, adjusting. Then, they grabbed both hands and held each other tight. 

In that moment they both understood the gravity of the situation. They were meant to be together and they were finally one. They locked eyes, looking at each other with such adoration 

The words came easy. 

“I love you.” They both said at the same time.

They pulled in for another searing kiss but then Tony broke away. 

“Steve, baby I love you but, you have to move please.” 

And with that Steve began to thrust into Tony, slowly at first. He pulled nearly all the way out and then pushed back in. 

They both moaned out at the incredible sensation, every nerve ending felt alight with fire. Steve felt like he was going to burst, intense heat and tightness surrounded him. 

Tony had never felt so full, Steve was big and stretched him out so nicely. Tony shifted and then it was a new angle and Steve went in deeper and found that magical spot inside of Tony. 

Tony cried out as Steve nailed his prostate, “Yes, Steeeeeve… oh god-right there!” 

“God Tony you’re so tight.” Steve said, gripping Tony’s hands harder, “You feel so—ohhh!— good.” He cried out as he continued to thrust, speeding up a bit. 

“Harder!” Tony yelled, then Steve began to speed up and fuck him harder until they were both panting in each other mouths. Steve’s pelvis met Tony’s ass and the slapping of skin on skin and moans were all that could be heard. 

“Oh my god….mmm fuck Tony, you feel amazing. You’re so amazing, love you.” He half moaned and shouted. Tony looked up at Steve through lust filled eyes, he would never forget the noises that Steve was making. They both were getting closer. 

Three more thrusts was all it took and Tony was cumming, “Steve!” He shouted, “I’m gonna—” and then he clenched around Steve with white hot cum splattering on his stomach as he cried out loudly in pure bliss. 

The sensation of Tony tightening around Steve caused him to cry out in pleasure. Then moments later he felt his own orgasm coming. 

“Tony I’m gonna cum.” He warned, just as he tried to pull out, Tony wrapped his legs around Steve’s waist. 

“Nooo,” he mumbled, “Please, inside me.” 

Steve couldn’t hold off another second as he thrust one last time inside Tony and filled him with his seed.

Tony hadn’t felt anything so sexually satisfying before in his life. He felt Steve’s warm spend fill him up and felt marked in the best possible way. 

He was so happy and he knew Steve was one in a million. 

Tony grabbed Steve around the shoulders and wrapped him in a hug. 

“That was incredible, thank you love.” He said, catching his breath. 

“I love you too Tony...was amazing.” Steve mumbled out. 

Steve gently pulled out, some of his cum spilling out. Then he grabbed a towel and wiped them both off, figuring they were too tired to shower.

“Come here.” Tony said, making grabby hands at Steve. 

Steve chucked in response and pulled Tony against him, so that Tony’s head was pillowed on Steve’s chest. The skin on skin contact felt amazing. Steve couldn’t remember a time he felt so warm. 

Tony sighed contentedly and kissed Steve one last time on the cheek. Tony was so happy and elated. He felt like he had finally found his other half.

“Goodnight, love.” He said with his eyes closed, however Steve didn’t fail to notice the light blush that spread on his lovers cheeks. 

“Night, Tone” 

Before tonight, they both never understood the term “lovemaking”. They both thought the concept to be a bit absurd, but that night it was as if they were a single soul. They understood it then, and hoped they always would. 

———————

The next morning they woke up in each other’s arms. Tony began to stir and then Steve was quick to follow. 

“So last night…” Tony began. 

“Was absolutely incredible and amazing and a million other things.” Steve said smiling brightly. 

Tony turned to him and beamed, “Well I was gonna day, best night of my life.”

Steve swallowed around a mysterious lump in his throat, “Me too, love.” 

Tony gave him a toothy smile and then began attacking Steve’s face in kisses. 

“And you say I’m the sap.” 

“Shut it, Rogers.” 

“Make me.” 

“God you’re such a child.” Tony complained. 

“And you love me for it.” 

“That I do.” Tony said, more seriously. 

Steve took Tony’s hand in his and brought it to his mouth in a sweet kiss. 

“Last night was… I can’t even put it into words, Tony.” Steve said, shaking his head, “I just…. have never felt so alive and I am the luckiest man on the planet to call you mine.” 

Tony’s eyes looks suspiciously shiny, “Same here… I’ve never felt so happy and…right. Especially with the stuff about the arc reactor. There is no one else like you Steve.” Tony said, reaching to cup his face. “You’re perfect.” 

“So are you.” Steve said as he kissed Steve lightly on the lips. “You're okay right? I didn’t hurt you.”

“Not at all, Steve.” Tony said and then smirked, “I would just say I’m delightfully sore. All that supersoldier stamina’s good for something I guess.” He teased. 

“Haha very funny.” He said, although he was growing hard again. 

Both took a moment to bask in their naked glory. 

“Do you want me to… help you out with that?” Tony asked. 

“As fun as that sounds I think there’s something else I’d rather do.” Steve said thoughtfully. 

“What?” Tony asked. 

“Let’s go furniture shopping.” Steve said seriously, then slowly smiled, “Then we can christen that as well.” 

“And they say I’m the futurist.” Tony replied, wickedly.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony go furniture shopping...but not everything goes as planned. Hope you like! We will have a much longer chapter coming up.

A few days later Steve and Tony decided to go out for furniture shopping. It was a little silly, considering the tower was furnished to the nines, but Tony insisted. He wanted the place to be theirs and he mostly picked his furniture for the sake of appearance. Tony Stark was flashy and rich so that’s what his apartment needed to be. 

Tony also thought it would be easier to shop online but Steve insisted that they go out in person. Tony didn’t get why, especially when the paparazzi could spot them. 

“Well I think it would be better if we went at night.” Tony said slowly, crossing his arms,“It’s less crowded that way.” 

“Tony it’s fine if we go now.” Steve said enthusiastically, “Besides we have team dinner and poker night tonight.” He smirked, clearly looking forward to beating them. 

“Yeah yeah, can’t wait to see how the team reacts when they find out noble Captain is actually Phil Ivey.” 

“Phil, who?” 

“He won ten-you know what? Never mind let’s just go.” Tony said. 

“You sure you want to go?” Steve asked, unsure, “You seem a little...tense.” 

“I’m fine.” Tony smiled grabbing Steve’s hands in his, “I want nothing more than to go with you.” 

And Tony did seem to be genuine. 

—- 

One would think that Tony and Steve would be complete opposites when buying furniture, but that was not the case at all. Turns out Tony likes simple and comfortable as much as Steve. 

“Who knew Tony Stark doesn’t have the fashion sense of….well Tony Stark.” Steve teased. 

“Oh shut it capsicle.” Tony said, “Why? Disappointed that being with a billionaire didn’t mean getting super fancy furniture?” He teased with a smile, however there was a bit of insecurity beneath it. 

“Oh Tony you know that I don’t care about that stuff right?” He said, pulling him in by the waist, “Plus I think it’s kinda cute. I love the fact that you don’t actually love flashy, just homey.” 

Tony rested his head against Steve shoulder. “Yeah well I didn’t really feel this way before, just with you. I want a home not just a house.” 

“Mmm well I think we made good headway today.” Steve said, kissing Tony. They kissed for a quick minute before a sales click cleared their throat. 

They both chuckled until Steve suggested they go out to eat something. 

“Come on, Lories Pizza Parlor is just down the street.” He smiled, taking Tony’s hand and pulling him along. 

—- 

Later that evening the team was in the middle of an intense poker match. Well, some of them were heavily invested (Clint and Thor). Tony opted out of playing, stating that none of them could afford to play against him. 

So he found himself sitting against Steve’s side smiling softly. They were all gathered around in a circle, sitting on pillows on the carpet. He had no idea how he got so lucky, to have a family like this meant the world to him. When he became a member of the Avengers he thought he would become teammates at best, he never pictured a family that he always wanted. 

Currently it seemed as if Natasha was going to win, but Tony knew just how good Steve was. He smiled as he knew what was coming. 

When both Clint and Thor lost, it was between Steve and Natasha. 

“You sure you want to do this man?” Clint asked, “It could end in humiliating defeat or serious bodily harm.” He warned. 

“I think I’m good.” Steve smiled innocently. 

“I don’t think you are.” Natasha said as she put down a straight flush. 

Both Bruce and Clint winced. 

Steve just grinned and shook his head, then placed down a royal flush. 

Natasha’s jaw dropped, no one beat her. However she quickly schooled her expression into one of practiced indifference. 

Beside Steve, Tony snickered. 

“Holy shit that did not just happen!” Clint shouted, “Someone call the history book authors!” He shouted. 

“Sorry Natasha.” Steve said sheepishly, “Please don’t hurt me.” 

“Our Captain never ceases to amaze me.” Thor said smiling, clasping a hand to his back. 

“Don’t worry about it Steve, first one is free.” She smiled smoothly, “Besides it’s nice to play someone who poses an actual challenge to me.” She smirked. 

“Hey now, I could totally take you on!” Tony said indignantly, “I am a genius!” 

“That’s right, you are so smart.” Natasha said petting his head. 

Tony just crossed his arms and muttered into Steve’s side. 

Everyone got up then, beginning to head to the living room. 

“Okay everyone it’s tv time!” Clint shouted. “Steve since you won you get to pick.” 

Just as Steve was going to reply Bruce pulled him aside. 

“Hey Steve I was wondering if I could see you in my lab for a moment?” He asked, “I need to draw some blood from you. I figured out a serum that could help delay the Hulk. He reacts to danger and if I could extract some healing capabilities from the serum and put it into me, then Hulk wouldn’t need to come out for less severe situations.” He explained. 

“Oh wow Bruce that’s great!” Steve said, “I would be more than happy to come down.” 

Steve turned to the rest of the group, “Guys wait here, I have to help Bruce. I’ll be ten minutes.” 

—- 

“Thanks so much for doing this.” Bruce said, “It could really help a lot.” 

“Bruce it’s no trouble, I wish I could do more.” Steve said. 

“You’re doing plenty. Not just for me but for all of us.” He said kindly. 

“Are you talking about Tony?” Steve smiled. 

“Well yes mostly him but you take care of all of us.” He paused, “He seems really happy, I’ve never seen him smile so much.” 

“Well thanks.” Steve said, not used to the praise, “He makes me really happy too.” 

“I think I’m going to skip movie night, if that’s okay. I really want to work on this, and I may call you down for more blood if I need it.” He said apologetically, “It’s just this is very time sensitive and I really need to get it right.” He tried to justify. 

Steve placed an arm on Bruce’s shoulder, “Bruce I would do anything to help you. I want to help, I promise it’s no trouble at all.” Steve smiled, “And it’s kinda cool being part of lab action, lord knows I barely come in here because I can’t keep up.” He said ruefully. 

“Thanks, Cap.” Bruce said, “But don’t sell yourself short either, you’re brilliant.” 

Steve only smiled and looked down. 

A few minutes later Steve went back upstairs. He was greeted with the sight of Thor and Natasha on the couch and Steve and Tony making popcorn in the kitchen. 

“Hey Cap.” Clint said, “How did the experiments with Banner go?” He winked. 

Steve rolled his eyes, “Shut up Clint, I was just helping him.” 

“Popcorn will be ready in a few.” Tony said, “You can go sit.” Tony told Steve, smiling. 

“Where’s Bruce?” Natasha asked Steve as he sat down. 

“He wants to work on his project, he thinks he may be close to a breakthrough.” Steve explained. 

“Is it about the Hulk?” Natasha asked, “I’ve tried talking to him but he seems very light lipped about it.” 

“I wouldn’t take that personally. He’s very invested and probably doesn’t want to tell anyone just in case it doesn’t work.” Steve explained, running a hand through his hair. 

“I have something for you Steven.” Thor said. 

“Oh yeah?” Steve asked. 

Thor nodded and handed him a very fancy looking shield. 

“Wow, Thor…this is beautiful.” Steve said as Tony came and sat down next to Steve on the couch, taking his hand in his. 

“Woah, Thor that’s amazing.” Tony said. 

“Yes, it was used in many battles by one of my most beloved comrades. It seemed appropriate that you should have it as our leader.” He said seriously. 

“Thank you so much.” Steve said as he got up and hugged Thor tightly. 

Once everyone settled down, they turned the TV on. It flipped on a news channel and a very enthusiastic anchorwoman began speaking, “And just in we have a photo of two of our favorite superheroes. Tony Stark aka Iron Man was spotted holding hands with Steve Rogers, aka the Captain America. Are they together? Well folks seems like it, they were spotted leaving a pizza parlor, sounds like a date to me. We will leave you to ponder this during our commercial break.” 

The room was dead silent, other than Clint choking up the popcorn he had been eating. 

Tony paled, and quickly said, “Steve I can make this go away, I promise I—”

“Captain Rogers,” Jarvis cut in, “I’m afraid Dr Banner is requesting your immediate assistance.” 

Steve hurridley stood up, “I’m sorry Tony… I have to go.” He said as he sprinted out of the room. 

After that the room feel into complete silence. Tony looked down then got up to go to his lab.

“Well guess that answers that.” He said ruefully, “I’ll be in my lab.” He said as he walked out. 

“Tony wait—” Natasha called but it was too late. 

—- 

Steve Immediately ran to Bruce, “You need more blood right.” 

“Yes I do.” He said grabbing tubing, “I'm so close to perfecting this Steve.” 

“I’m glad.” He smiled, slightly strained. 

A few minutes later Bruce shouted with victory, “Steve I did it.” 

“That’s fantastic.” He said hugging Bruce, as much as he wanted to run to Tony, he knew Bruce needed his support. 

“Okay I think I’ll try this tomorrow, I need some sleep.” Bruce said, tired yet with a satisfied smile. 

“You have been working so hard, go get some celebratory rest.” Steve said, patting him on the back. 

As he went back up to the common room, he was vibrating with anticipation. He knew he needed to talk to Tony and explain. 

He was greeted with the sight of a sorrowful Natasha and Clint. 

“He went down in the lab as soon as you left.” Natasha explained. 

Steve didn’t need anymore explanation before he went down to talk to Tony. 

—-

Tony felt like shit to say the least. This is why he wanted to go at night, he knew the paparazzi would catch them and this is what he wanted to avoid. 

It wasn’t even the fact that they showed the picture, which admittedly was annoying. No, it was the fact that Steve raced out of the room as soon as humanly possible. It showed that Steve hated the fact that the public knew, he was ashamed that his name was tied to his. 

He was shaken out of his thoughts when Steve walked in the room. 

“We need a press conference.” Steve said urgently. 

Tony sighed, “Yeah I know.” He knew Steve would want to deny it but the fact that that was the first thing on his mind stung. 

“No Tony I don’t think you understand.” Steve insisted.

“No, actually I do.” Tony said, starting to get angry, “I get that you’re ashamed to have people know that you’re in a relationship with me.” Tony snapped, “So don’t worry I’ll get Pepper to set up a conference immediately so we can repair your now tarnished image.” Tony growled out, then quickly turned away. 

Steve was horrified, this is what he thought? 

“Tony, look at me now. Please.” He said, then reached out and carefully placed his hand on Tony’s arm to guide him around. 

“The only reason I left the room at all was because if I didn’t Bruce would be let down. He was trying to create a serum that could better control the hulk and he needed my blood to do it. If I didn’t go right away everything would’ve been ruined. The timing of it all did suck and I was surprised, but I’m not unhappy.” He stepped closer to Tony, “I want a press conference ASAP because I want no assumptions whatsoever. I want the world to know that I love Tony Stark.” He said in a hushed voice filled with conviction. 

“You sure?” Tony asked, brown eyes filled with hope. 

“I’ve never been more sure if anything-well other than you.” Steve smiled, “And I want to share that with the world, and give hell to anyone who disagrees.” 

“Well good, because I’m with you one hundred percent, always.” Tony leaned in and kissed him. 

“I for one can’t wait to see Captain America and Iron Man ‘give them hell.’”Jarvis said proudly.

They both laughed. 

“Come to bed with me?” Steve asked, cupping Tony’s face. 

“In a bit, I have one last thing to finish down here for SI and then I’m done.” 

“Okay sounds good.” Steve said, “I’ll leave you to it.” 

They kissed once before Steve left Tony to his work. 

Once Tony was finished with the work for SI he was about to get up and leave before he remembered he wanted to look at the coding for the robot from the last battle. Something had seemed really familiar about it and he had yet to figure it out. 

Just as he was settling in to look it over the power cut out. “What? Jarvis what’s going on?” Tony asked. 

When there was no reply, Tony quickly stood up. He was about to find the Avengers and get his suit when the wall to the workshop was blown to pieces. 

All of a sudden a giant robot, the same as the one from the battle before, grabbed him and knocked him out. 

His last thought was that he should’ve just gone to bed with Steve.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just want to add a warning before this chapter so please read!   
> This is the beginning of some serious Tony whump. If you’re caught up you know he gets kidnapped. Warnings for waterboarding, arc reactor torture and violence with a knife. If this is triggering then please skip it. For those who don’t want to read I’ll include notes at the bottom of what specifically happened. I know arc reactor whump has been used before but I really wanted to include it here, also it will be important for later. Don’t worry! I know things seem bad but they won’t stay that way for long! And to the rest who do read, I hope you enjoy.

Tony woke with a groan and a pounding headache. Damn what had he done last night? It was strange because ever since he was with Steve he had stopped drinking, so the consumption of alcohol couldn’t explain the pain in his head. 

He took in his surroundings, it was dark and he seemed to be in a dungeon of some sort. All of a sudden the memories came back, Jarvis was down and the robot came and snatched him away. 

He cried out when he realized that he had been kidnapped and that he had no idea if the other Avengers were okay. 

He went to put a hand on his face but he realized that moving his hands wasn’t an option. 

He was tied down to a metal table, with nothing but his boxers on, his wrists and ankles cuffed with metal, along with a metal restraint around his neck and stomach. 

Well, fuck. So much for getting out. 

He began to panic as he realized that he had no way to escape, no weapons or mobility for that matter, and on top of it all his arc reactor was exposed. 

As Tony began to thrash around pointlessly, the door to the dungeon was in opened. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Tony said, before he could stop himself. 

“Now, now Mr. Stark.” Donald from the gala said, “That kind of talk will get you nowhere here.” He smiled. 

“It all makes sense now.” Tony said in mock delight, “Now I know why the shitty coding was familiar. It was your work that you wanted me to include for the Avengers. Oh wait what happened with that? Oh yeah I rejected it.” Tony sassed.

Donald walked up to Tony and smacked him hard on the side of his face. 

“You are going to learn this really fast, Stark.” Donald ground out, “Shut up unless I tell you too.” 

“Oh yeah like I’m going to listen to you—” Tony cut off when Donald shoved a cloth into his mouth. 

As Tony tried to spit it out Donald walked over to grab a bucket of water. He brought it over and used the cloth to cover Tony’s mouth and face. He poured the water over the cloth and began to waterboard Tony.

Tony thrashed and tried to pull away from the onslaught of water that was hitting his face. He couldn’t breathe, his lungs felt like they were on fire and he was gonna die, he would never see Steve or the Avengers again and— 

The cloth was abruptly pulled off of him, leaving him to cough and swallow in gallons of air. He had to, he might not get another chance. 

He continued gasping as Donald began to speak, “Do you understand me now Tony? I know all about your adventures in Afghanistan and we can continue this for forever if this is how you want to act.” He said in a reprimanding tone. 

Tony breathed heavily and glared at Donald with a look that could kill. 

“Good. Now that we are clear I have one more thing I need to do before I explain what’s going to happen.” He smirked. 

Donald went to grab a needle and a length of tubing and brought it back to the table. Tony flinched away from Donald as far as the restraints would let him. 

Donald gave him a very unamused look, “It’s not as if moving away will do you any good.” He scoffed, “And you don’t exactly have a choice in anything that happens to you.” He said matter of factly. 

Tony looked down but closed his eyes when he felt the needle hit his skin. He locked his jaw and refused to give Donald the satisfaction of looking afraid. 

“You’ll know why we need this for later.” Donald smiled as he walked out of the room taking Tony’s blood with him. 

—- 

Steve and the others had no idea what hit them. One minute they were all sleeping then the next and explosion knocked the building. 

They all immediately got up and met at the commonfloor. 

“Is everyone okay?” Bruce shouted. 

“Yes we are fine!” Thor yelled back. 

“Where’s Stark?” Clint asked. 

“Oh god he was still in his lab.” Steve cried. 

They all ran to the lab, but Tony was nowhere to be found. 

“Oh god.” Steve said as he picked up a note that was left in the rubble. It read: Your resident tech builder is out of commission. 

—- 

It had been ten minutes since Donald left the room. Meaning now Tony was left alone with his thoughts. He tried to fight his restraints, more to distract himself than anything else, but he just tired out. 

His breathing quickened as he realized he was stuck here. God, he just wanted Steve. It was so childish and weak but all he wanted was Steve to rescue him and hug him. 

His eyes watered as he pictured it, however he shook his head to clear his thoughts. He needed to think straight and figure out a way to escape. In the meantime he hoped the Avengers were looking for him. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when Donald entered the room. He clapped his hands together with a huge smile, “So Tony, I bet you’re wondering why you’re here. Well the first reason is that one, I hate you.” He all but spat. 

“The second is that I am working on some new… tech if you will, and I need a more stronger power source than I currently have.” He began walking towards Tony, “That is where you come in.” He said, tapping Tony’s arc reactor. “I am going to connect my machines to your arc reactor and take its energy, which will be extremely painful.” He added smiling, “Then after you power my machines, the world will have no need for Stark Tech and neither will I. You will be replaced in the technology business and no one will remember you.” He smiled, “So then I’ll hand you over to an associate of mine who will decide what he wants to do with you.” He smiled, “You can come in now.” He said into a walkie he picked up. 

Throughout his whole speech Tony had visibly paled. On the inside he was screaming, the idea that they were going to use the arc reactor and touch it… made him want to cry and curl into a little ball. He remembered when Obie paralyzed him and took it out, leaving him to die. The only person he trusted to even get near it was Steve. 

Another man entered the room and it was none other than Justin Hammer. All Tony could think was: You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Again. 

“Hey they’re Tones!” Justin said enthusiastically, “We are going to have so much fun together. As soon as my friend Donald is finished with you here, you are going to come live with me. And believe me, I’m nowhere near as nice as him.” He said, throwing an arm around Donald’s shoulder. 

“Gee weren't you in prison?” Tony asked, irritated. 

“Tony that is no way to speak to the future owner.” Justin said coldly. He took something from his pocket, looking at Donald, “May I?” He asked. 

“One second.” Donald smiled. He walked over and grabbed a camera that was mounted on a stand. He picked it up and put it on the other side of the table, opposite to where they were standing by Tony. He pressed it on to record and gave Justin a thumbs up. 

While this was happening Tony tried to control his breathing. He knew whatever was going to happen wasn’t going to be good. He tried to hold back his thrashing and was only partially successful. 

Justin walked to Tony’s side and paused to show him the knife he held inside of his hand. 

“Here’s what happens when you talk back to me.” Justin snarled. “I hope you learn your lesson. Bonus points if you scream.” He said, smiling. 

A second later he brought the knife to Tony’s stomach, hard, just above the metal strap. He carved in a D and a J, Donald and Justin’s initials. 

Tony but down on a scream bit thrashed his head from one side to another. He couldn’t stop the tears that came to his face from the horrible pain. Dark crimson blood soaked his midsection. He kept panting even after Justin was finished. 

“Aww look at you.” Justin drawled, “So ugly, how could your precious boyfriend even love you now?” Tony’s eyes flashed at that, the words hurt badly. “And look haha! It says DJ! Like a DJ.” He laughed, way too amused with himself. Then he walked away quickly and came back with a bottle of liquid. He poured it on the cuts and it immediately began to burn. 

Tony did cry out then but quickly clamped his mouth shut. Justin took a wipe and cleaned off the blood.

“Oh come on Tony let us hear you.” Justin said, patting his face. 

Tony wrenched his head away, then spat in Justin’s face. 

Justin bared his teeth at Tony, “Don’t you dare you worthless piece of shit.” He growled out, then yanked Tony’s arc reactor from his chest. 

Tony’s breath began to become more shallow and sweat beaded down his forehead. The pain in his chest was horrible, as if he could feel the shrapnel shredding it’s way to his heart. 

He was dying! Dying. He wouldn’t ever get to see Steve again! His last breaths will be with these two horrible excuses for humans.

“Don’t you dare ever do that to me again.” Justin spat out, “Why do you think the Avengers aren’t already here? It isn’t as if we are hard to find! They just don’t want you around, they are probably relieved we took you. Now they don’t have to deal with you.” 

The words stung bad, but Tony didn’t let it show. He continued to pant through the worsening pain. 

Then Justin put-actually punched-the arc reactor back in place. He could feel the internal bruising. 

Tony heaved in huge breaths of relief. 

“Let’s leave him now.” Donald said, “We have to get the weapons for the arc ready.” 

The two men turned away, walked out of the room and shut the door. 

Only then did Tony did allow himself to moan out in pain and ball his hands into fists. He took one look at his stomach and became extremely upset right away. He knew that cut would scar, and Justin had no problems driving the knife in deep. Tony had tried his hardest not to scream but it was so hard. Justin marked him forever and he knew this was just the beginning. 

He wanted to run away and cry and find his Steve. But he couldn’t so much as lift his arm. 

Unless the Avengers-his family, could find him. 

—- 

The Avengers Immediately went to SHIELD to tell Fury of their missing family member. 

“Director, Tony Stark, our brother is missing.” Thor declared. 

“We heard about the explosion at the tower. We assumed you all made it out fine.” Fury said, a hint of concern in his words. 

“No, it was planned. Tony was down in his lab and that was exactly where to robot go him.” Steve said, barely containing himself. 

“Okay.” Fury said, “I’ll have our agents review security footage around the tower and we will have all hands on deck to get him back as soon as possible.” He said with finality. 

“Sounds good. We will start searching now.” Natasha said. 

“Don’t worry, Steve. We will find him, he means too much to all of us.” Bruce said kindly, grabbing his arm. 

“They will pay for taking our brother of Iron.” Thor growled. 

And they all stormed out of SHIELD headquarters, ready to find Tony and end anyone who got in their way. 

—- 

Tony spent the next half hour whimpering and moaning out in pain. He tried to keep his breathing level, the last thing he needed was an anxiety attack. The cuts had thankfully stopped bleating but they still hurt, and the letters became more visible, much to Tony’s dismay. 

He schooled his expression when he heard the door open. It was only Donald this time, much to his relief. 

Donald was pushing what looked like a massive grenade launcher on a table with wheels. The weapon had two massive wires attached to it, with sharp ends sticking out. 

“So Tony, here’s how things are going to go, this weapon has yet to be powered, and well your arc reactor would be perfect. The wires will attach to your reactor and will suck out the energy.” He explained. “That in itself will be painful but since it’s you I made it so it will send ripples of electricity from the grenades to your whole body as the energy flows.” He smiled. One wire was red and the other was black, almost as if someone was going to electrocute him. 

Then he took out a bottle with two grey pills, “Normally a procedure like this would make you pass out but this special medicine will keep you awake and alert to feel all of it. Think of it almost as a cross between liquid energy and adrenaline.” He said, then forced him to swallow the pills roughly. 

Tony was completely terrified, he had never experienced anything like this. He wasn’t sure if he could take it, he needed Steve so badly. 

Then, Donald began hooking up the wires to Tony’s arc reactor. One wire went on the reactor itself and then the other, into the skin next to it. 

Then Donald flipped the switch to the weapon on and said, “Hope you have fun.” With a sadistic smile. 

The pain was completely unbearable, he felt as if someone was sucking the life out of him and shocking him with the most intense electricity all at the same time. He couldn’t hold back his screams then. 

“Oh my god!” He yelled, “Oh my god! Make it stop! Make it stop please!” He screamed. 

“Sorry but not sorry, Tony.” He said patting his head, “You're to stay like this until the weapons are powered.” He said glancing at the camera, “And that’s going to be a while.” 

“No no no!” He cried, “It hurts! It hurts so much!” He bawled as tears streamed down his face. 

He trashed on the table, his fingers reaching towards his arc, as if trying to touch the wires to take them out. He was trapped, stuck in an endless void of firey pain. God he couldn’t even pass out, he was forced to endure it. 

What felt like hours of endless screaming, morning and crying passed by. Tony’s breathing became ragged and constant tears were flowing out of his eyes. 

“God someone get me out!” He shouted, “Help me, make it stop!” 

“Please Donald make it stop!” He panted with a sweat slicked forehead, brown curls sticking to his face. 

Donald walked in then. He smiled and looked to the weapon beside him. Yellow bars lit up on the side. 

“Well look what we got here.” Donald said, “The bars are still yellow. I’d say it’s about twenty five percent charged.” He said clicking his tongue, “You still have a ways to go.” 

Tony whimpered at that, “No no please Donald I can’t take it! It’s killing me! Make it stop now.” He said as he felt a large spark of energy shock his insides. 

“No Tony I won’t. You can take it, I made sure it won’t kill you.” He said cupping Tony’s face in a mock loving gesture, “And besides this is just the first weapon, you have so much more to go through.” He smiled, then walked away, closing the door on a screaming Tony. 

Tony couldn’t believe he could endure this much pain. He felt as if he was being burned alive and drowning at the same time. He was drenched in sweat and the pain was never ending. Not only was he helping his enemy, but the weapons took forever to charge. He had to stay conscious through all of it. All he could do was cry and scream for an end that he knew wasn’t coming. 

“Make it stop! Someone help me please!” He cried out.

No one answered. 

—-

When the weapon was finally finished Tony had screamed himself hoarse. Tony wasn’t sure, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he called out for Steve or Thor or his family to help him. He just couldn’t control what came out his mouth. The pain was simply too excruciating. 

He heard Donald come back in with Justin behind him. 

“Wow Tony congratulations!” Justin yelled, obnoxiously. “You have helped Donald power his first weapon to destroy the Avengers.” 

Tony could only moan out in response as Donald removed the wires. 

“As a reward for doing so well.” Donald smirked, clearly reveling in seeing Tony in so much pain, “We thought you should be up to date on what’s going on with your fellow teammates.” He smiled. 

Donald walked away and pulled out a speaker attaching his phone to it, “Here’s a recording of your so called family just after the explosion.” He said, then pushed play. 

“Where is Stark?” Tony heard, in what was definitely Clint’s voice, ask. 

“I think someone took him.” Said Bruce. 

“He isn’t in the tower.” Thor said. 

“Good riddance.” Steve said, with so much hate in his voice. Tony’s blood ran cold. 

“What happened, I thought you were sweet on him.” Clint scoffed. 

“I thought he was okay, then I got to know him.” Steve said, “He’s just a pathetic excuse of a hero. The only reason he’s on our team is for the money, I hate him. I’m glad I don’t have to do that stupid conference.” Tony’s heart stuttered at that… could Steve really think that? 

“Shouldn’t we at least try to save him?” Bruce asked, sounding annoyed. 

“He isn’t worth it.” Natasha said. “He’s so messed up that even he can’t be fixed.” 

“Guess we will have to tell Fury the ‘unfortunate’ news.” Thor laughed. 

“The Avengers are better off without him anyways.” Steve said. 

Then the recording shut off. 

“That’s what your family thinks of you.” Donald smiled. 

“God even Captain America hates you.” Justin laughed. 

Then they both walked out. 

Tony laid there, shocked, humiliated and hurt beyond words. He cried from an entirely different pain that night. 

He couldn’t believe they had said those things about him, all along that’s what they thought. And Steve…. he didn’t love Tony. God Tony loved him so much, with everything he had and it wasn’t enough. He felt his heart break when they said those hateful words, it was without a doubt their voices on the recording. It’s why they hadn’t come for him. Justin said he wasn’t hard to find. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be okay again. Just goes to show that Tony Stark was hated and worthless. 

But wait! Maybe Donald and Justin found a way to manipulate the recordings, maybe what he heard wasn’t true. They did want to hurt him, after all. His mind supplied helpfully. 

He laid strapped on to the table that night, exhausted and not knowing what to think; wondering if his family truly despise him after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter Tony gets water boarded as punishment but it doesht go on for very long. Then Justin Hammer carved letters into Tony’s stomach with a knife. Then Tony’s arc gets used to power weapons against his will, he is also force fed some pills.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the next part of Tony whump. Don’t worry! Things get better and there’s plenty of fluff to come. Warnings for arc reactor torture (but it’s the same as last chapter), also mental manipulation, beatings and whipping. Check bottom notes for what specifically happens. So if any of that triggers please skip. And to the rest who read, as usual, I hope you enjoy! :)

It had been two weeks. Two weeks of endless searching for Tony and they were no closer to finding him. That’s when they got the news, blood had been found at the scene of an accident at an empty building. 

It was Tony’s and he was presumed dead. 

Steve had spent whatever time he allowed himself to sleep, upset crying. He would hold old photographs of himself and Tony, reliving old memories. He would inhale the scent of the covers because they still smelled like Tony. 

The team was upset and devastated to say the least. They all had different ways of coping but they needed each other for this, they lost one of their own. However that didn’t stop them all from having their mini breakdowns in private. 

They were all huddled in the common room trying to figure out a game plan. Even though they doubted it, part of them still held hope that Tony could be alive. The one thing they managed to do was get Jarvis back online. 

“Hey Jarvis,” Bruce began, “What was Tony working on right before the explosion?” He asked. 

“Mr. Stark had just finished working on a project for SI when he became distracted by the coding for the robot from the last battle.” Jarvis explained. “It was the same robot that took him.” 

“I remember him saying over the comms that it looked familiar to him.” Natasha said. 

“Precisely, Ms. Romanov.” Jarvis said, “While I was unable to assist Mr. Stark at the time, I have run tests and have concluded that the coding belongs to a rejected proposal from Donald Henderson.” Jarvis said. 

“Wait isn’t that the same douchebag from the Gala?” Clint asked, alarmed. 

“How do you know?” Steve asked, sitting up. 

“I have a thing about names, the way that guy spoke to Stark...it rubbed me the wrong way, not just because he was rude.” He said. 

“Jarvis run everything we know about him now.” Steve commanded, “Maybe there’s some footage or a clue we could find.” 

“No footage containing Donald Henderson at the tower, on or near the time of the explosion.” Jarvis reported. 

Steve sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair. 

“Hold on.” Natasha said, “The note that was left, are there any fingerprints?” She asked. 

“No fingerprints or any traceable DNA.” Jarvis said. 

Natasha smiled, “And the paper, what type is it?” She asked. 

“It is a special kind, associated with Donald’s company. It is mostly used for mailing.” 

“Of course.” She said, “Does he have any empty warehouses or anything in his name or family that’s empty land.” 

“Yes there is a warehouse on the outskirts of New York under the name of a distant relative. However I had to hack into several servers to find that.” 

“Excellent work Jarvis.” She smiled, everyone stood up. “Now let’s go to SHIELD.” 

Steve picked up a photograph, the one from when they went to the fair in New York. It brought tears to his eyes, “Don't worry love, I’ll find you. I promise.” 

—-

It had been two weeks of endless torture. Donald would shoot more adrenaline in his arm and keep him awake to power the machines. 

The cuts on his midsection began to heal and he could see the scarring began to form. 

Tony tried not to think about that. 

Tony simply moaned in pain. He cried until no more tears would come. 

They would allow him to get up and go to the restroom, but that was all the mobility he got before he was strapped back onto the table. They fed him the bare minimum of three meals a day. Then they forced another drug in his system that would make him sleep. 

During the moments of excruciating pain he would remember moments with Steve: when they would go out on dates, when they made love and said those three crucial words. He also remembered moments with the Avengers, the movie nights, the tourist adventures. 

It was the only thing that got him through the torture. 

He tried not to think of the recording. He knew it was their voices, but deep down he knew they had been tricking him. He needed to believe that.

Needless to say he lost track of time. He felt as if he had been down there for years, the pain and sleep all bled into one. 

He woke up with a groan, he knew that since he was awake they would use the arc reactor again. 

He began to panic and cry as he realized he was in for another round of torture. He was beyond caring what Donald and Justin thought about him. 

Donald and Justin entered the room this time. Strange, usually it had only been Donald. 

“Hey Tony.” Donald smiled, “We just wanted to let you know that you only have one more weapon to power before you’re done. After that, you get to go live with Justin.” Donald smiled. 

“I have to warn you though.” He said, in fake seriousness, “This weapon will be the longest yet in terms of powering. And it’s larger than the rest so it will be more painful than the others.” He smiled. 

Tony began to shake his head, “No no no. No more please.” He mumbled, “Too much, can’t… can’t power anymore.” 

Donald grabbed Tony’s face in his hand, “Yes. You are going to lie here and power this weapon. You have no choice.” He spat. 

Tony whimpered and turned his head away as Donald roughly shoved the adrenaline pills in his mouth. 

Tony woke up just in time to feel Donald hooking the wires into his reactor and skin. His breathing began to pick up.

Then he flipped the weapon on and Tony’s world once again became pain. 

Tony tried to scream but all that came out was small gasps and whimpers. God this weapon felt so much worse. He would do anything to make it stop. 

Just think of Steve, he thought. He pictured Steve and him kissing on the couch. He pictured them shopping for furniture for the tower. He pictured Steve’s face when he said he loved him for the first time. 

And for a while it was enough to block out the pain. 

Until Justin and Donald came back and played that recording on a loop. 

That’s when Tony started sobbing. He couldn’t even begin to process what he was going through. 

“Oh my god!!” He cried, “Shut it off already!” He shook his head, “Steve!!!” He sobbed, “Someone, help me please!” He shouted, then a strong jolt of electricity fried his insides. 

He was met with more silence. 

He was stuck with the physical and emotional pain. All he could do was cry and hope that help would come. 

—- 

Once the weapon was finally finished, Tony felt like the life was sucked out of him. He couldn’t tell if he was imagining things or not but he felt as if the arc was short circuiting, it felt harder to breathe. Although that could be the emotional pain weighing him down as well. 

“Great job Tony, you did it!” Donald exclaimed. 

Tony just shook his head and twisted in his restraints. He closed his eyes as Donald began to speak.

“Now Tony, as you know I no longer need you.” Donald sighed, “So I’ll be giving you over to Justin. In order to make this transition as smooth as possible we have to make sure no one will be looking for you anymore.” 

Tony opened his eyes at that, this couldn’t be good. 

“Remember when we took your blood?” He asked rhetorically, “Well we splattered it on a crime scene and, well, now everyone thinks you’re dead.” He declared, clapping his hands together. 

“Justin come in here and show him.” He said into the walkie. 

Justin wheeled in an old television and turned in on a news channel. 

“This just in, folks.” The anchorwoman said sadly, “The search for Tony Stark ends as his blood is found at a crime scene. The infamous Iron Man is gone. The Avengers have yet to comment on the matter.” 

Justin flicked to other channels as proof but they all said the same thing. 

Tony closed his eyes. He was totally screwed now, the Avengers weren’t looking for him anymore and they hadn’t even said anything about him. 

“We will leave you to rest, then you’re all mine.” Justin said mischievously. 

Tony felt as if his heart was ripped out of his chest. He turned away as much as he could and sobbed, he cried for the life that was taken away from him and the life he would never get to have now. 

He wondered where things went so wrong. 

He took in deep breaths and then whispered out, “I still hope you find me Steve… I love you… please come find me, I know you can.” 

—-

They practically busted down the door to Nick Fury’s office. 

“Director we have reason to believe—” Steve began. 

“Look I’m going to stop you right there.” Fury began. “We know Stark is alive. SHIELD has been monitoring underground criminal activity and that idiot Justin Hammer has been boasting to some of his criminal low life friends that he will have Stark moved with him to some other country.” 

Steve couldn’t believe it. One that Hammer was alive but most importantly that they would find Tony, alive. 

“Where is he?” Clint asked, teary eyed. 

“We are not sure, but time is of the essence. We have agents on every lead.” 

“Director. We have reason to believe Justin could be holding Tony at a warehouse just outside of New York. The place was under the name of a distant relative of Donald Henderson, the creator of the robots who took Tony.” Natasha quickly supplied. 

“Very well Avengers, don’t stop on my account.” Fury said. “I look forward to seeing our hyper verbal inventor even if he is a pain in my ass.” 

—- 

The Avengers were loading up he quinjet with weapons, first aid and anything else they may need. 

Steve told Clint to fly, he wasn’t in the right mind.

“It’s okay man,” he said with shiny eyes, “I understand. We all miss him and love him. But at least now we get him back.” He said with a pat on his shoulder. 

“Yes Clint that’s true.” Steve said, sighing. “I just think that everything else was blocking that out.” 

Steve took these weeks, mostly to wallow, but also realize just how important Tony and his family have become to him. Part of him was still stuck in the past, however these two weeks had been the complete opposite. These two weeks he had been mourning his future and realized how much he took it for granted. He realized it too late, his future was with Tony and the Avengers. But now he had a second chance. 

He vowed to never waste it. 

Natasha sat down next to Steve and took his hand in hers. She knew that he needed the physical support. 

Everyone settled down, mentally and physically readying themselves to fight for their teammate. 

—- 

Tony was still bolted down to the table. He had no idea what to do, everyone thought he was dead. No one was looking for him, or coming for him. 

The door to the dungeon opened and Justin came in with two huge guards. 

Tony considered fighting or trying to run but he was drained. Even though he was awake and alert during the energy transfer, that adrenaline wasn’t made to last. He was also mentally and emotionally drained. 

As the guards began to undo Tony’s restraints, Justin spoke up, “Now Tony, don’t get any funny ideas. Try to escape and there will be severe consequences.” He smiled, “And oh, your new mark is looking nice.” He smirked, looking at Tony’s scars. 

“I’ll be taking you to a warehouse where we will spend a few days bonding.” Tony looked down and shut his eyes, “And then I will be taking you to your new home where no one will be bothering us!” He exclaimed. 

Tony simply looked away and locked his jaw. Before he said something that would get him in trouble. 

The guards lifted him up from the table and stood him up. After that, they took out chains that locked around his wrists and then connected it to more chains that locked around his ankles. 

Then Justin grabbed a gag and wrapped it tight around his mouth. 

“Can’t have you screaming for help, now can we?” He smirked. 

Then they blindfolded him and threw him in a trunk of a car. 

—- 

Tony was jostled around in the trunk. He tried not to panic at his situation, and to keep his claustrophobia at bay. 

He groaned in frustration when he couldn’t break the chains. 

Could you blame him? These past two weeks he had pretty much been a slave and couldn’t even walk or move when he wanted. The whole ordeal was becoming infuriating. He was Iron Man, he was supposed to be strong! 

In order to distract himself he attempted to find a weak spot in his bindings or any tools in the trunk but there was nothing. 

He also took this time to reflect. 

If everything went according to Hammers plan, he was screwed. But if he managed to escape or… if the Avengers would find him, well there would be some changes. 

He would spend more time with Steve, the idea of a press conference now seemed like a cake walk. He would spend more time with his family, take them on vacations. He would invent more but also sleep more. He would be more healthy because life is too precious for other nonsense. 

He would ask Steve to marry him, sooner rather than later. He knew he wanted to, he knew he had a future with Steve. He knew Steve was the one and he’d be damned if he let that go. 

Assuming he had a chance of getting out and those recordings were fake. 

Once he felt the car stop he listened for footsteps. 

Suddenly the top to the trunk was thrown open and he was grabbed roughly from the car. He struggled to find his footing as the two guards Justin had with him kept pulling him forward. 

His breath caught when he felt his foot hit a hard rock. The road they were walking on was dirt but then he felt cement. 

He tried smelling for anything that would indicate where they were, but nothing stood out. 

He heard metal opening, ah it’s a warehouse or something like that then. 

Then he was shoved to his knees and his blindfold was ripped off his face. 

“So Tony, I realize it is just me and my two guys and that might give you some funny ideas about running away.” He said grabbing Tony’s chin in his hands. “However if you so much as try to escape I have a bomb rigged in your tower and I will activate it if I can’t find you.” Tony’s eyes widened and he started panting behind the gag. “That way if you ever try to leave me you will be responsible for all those deaths, maybe even some avengers. I mean you may be gone but they’ll stay, that bitch Pepper will insist that they stay, and they will because all they’ve ever wanted is your money. And all you’d be doing by leaving is being selfish, because no one would want you back anyways.” He spat. 

Whether or not Hammer was telling the truth, Tony knew he couldn’t risk it. Not until he found the control to the bomb. He closed his eyes as Hammer began to remove the gag. 

“Since I’ll love to hear you scream. It’s not like anyone can hear you out here anyways.” He laughed. 

They removed the chains from Tony’s wrists and ankles and brought him to a metal chair that was bolted to the floor. They cuffed his hands to the arms of the chair and his feet to the legs. As they did that Tony took stock of his surroundings, definitely a warehouse with… a lot of tools. He tried to suppress a shudder. 

“My, oh my!” Hammer began, tapping his temple, “What to do with you. We have so much time!” He boasted, “The possibilities are endless.” 

Tony looked up at him and glared. 

“What Tony?” Justin growled, “Have something you want to say? I’d be careful if I were you.” 

“You’re wrong.” Tony whispered. 

“I’m sorry what was that?” Hammer asked. 

“You’re wrong.” Tony said louder, “The Avengers want me, they’re coming. And when they do you’ll have hell to pay.” He said resolutely, he didn’t realize how much he believed that until he said it. 

Hammer socked him in the jaw, “You’re wrong. Didn’t you hear the recording we played for you? They hate you and besides, everyone thinks you’re dead!” He shouted. 

“They will find me!” Tony shouted, “They’re smart, they will figure it out! You’re an idiot and so is Donald. That’s why you hate me right? You knew that I knew you were never good enough or smart enough.” Tony sassed. 

Hammer began to sock him in the gut, then kicked him on his shins. “This is for treating everyone like dirt.” He said as he continued to hit Tony in various places. 

Tony breathed heavily and tried to maintain a stoic expression but it was hard, especially after the arc reactor was fried from powering weapons. Hah, the irony in that was incredible. 

“You know what?” Justin said, “I’m tired of your sass and your snarky mouth.” He motioned to one of the guards, “Go get that pipe over there and press it against his ribs. Break one of them for me.” He demanded.

Tony paled and began to breathe deeply. He willed himself to be strong. It was just pain, he had dealt with it before. He just had to be strong until the Avengers found him. 

The guard walked around so he was standing behind Tony, then reached over and placed the bar over his lower right rib.

Tony gripped the arms of the chair tightly and closed his eyes, he didn’t want to see. 

“Open your eyes, or we break two” Hammer growled as he grabbed Tony’s face, “Remember try anything and I blow the building. Try anything else and I’ll plant another explosive.” He threatened, “Oh yeah and don’t forget to scream.” He smiled, then nodded to the guard. 

Tony began to whimper and thrash as he felt the pressure being applied to his rib. Pretty soon the pressure turned to crushing. 

“Ahh!! Stop it!” He squirmed, panting hard. 

“Keep going.” Hammer smiled. 

Tony screamed as he felt his rib eventually give and bend inside him. He couldn’t stop the tears that fell as the pain exploded. 

“That’s what happens when you talk back to me, Tony. It’s about time someone teaches you respect.” 

Then he walked away for a minute. Tony took the moment to try to catch his breath. He took careful breaths because he didn’t want his rib to poke his lungs. He felt more tears fall when his breaths became painful.

Hammer came back with a whip and proceeded to hit Tony over and over again, hard. 

Tony squirmed in his seat. He felt awful, each new lash made fresh red angry marks on his skin. 

“God how could anyone love you?” Hammer seethed, “You're a horrible person who’s done horrible things. You sure Captain America isn’t some secret Hydra goon? How else could he even stand to be near you.” He spat. 

Tony whimpered and thrashed as much as the chair would let him. 

After an hour or so, Tony barely held onto consciousness. He felt like he was dying. Breathing became harder and his breaths were more shallow. He didn’t know how Hammer thought he was going to last another day if he kept this up. 

All throughout the never ending blows Hammer would throw insults and make lewd comments about him and Steve. It was horrible. All he could do was sit there and listen. 

Hammer eventually stopped and Tony took stock of his body. He was bleeding all over from the whip, his body was bruising horribly from where Hammer had hit him and his rib hurt terribly. He could barely breathe because Hammer had been brutal.

Tony tried to picture Steve again, if these were his last few moments then he wanted to see Steve before it was all over. 

Before he could let the memory of Steve saying “I love you” to him play over in his mind, the wall furthest to him blew to pieces. 

Steve and the Avengers were on the other side. 

“What the hell?” Hammer yelled. 

Clint and Natasha immediately ran to the guards and took them down. And then Thor fried Hammer with his lighting. 

Steve ran over to where Tony sat. 

“Tony! Love, don’t worry we are here. We got you.” He crooned as he cupped Tony’s face.

Despite the pain Tony felt an incredible amount of happiness and love flow through him. 

“Steve… you came?” He asked weakly, as happy tears streamed down his face. 

“Yes, love. I promise I’m here, I’m real. I love you and we got you. Just hold on for a little bit longer and we will fix you up.” He said as he got the last cuff off Tony’s hand. “Don’t worry love you’re coming home.” He said thickly as his own tears fell down his cheeks, his expression hardened when he saw all of Tony’s injuries. But mostly Tony could only see love and relief. 

Steve gently grabbed Tony into his arms, hugging him carefully, bridal style. 

“Steve…” Tony whispered, head resting against Steve’s chest, “I love you.” 

“I love you too, Tony. So much.” He said kissing Tony’s temple. 

That was all Tony needed to hear before he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter there’s the usual using Tony’s arc for energy. Then they manipulate Tony by showing him the news broadcast that reports that everyone think he’s dead. The Justin beats Tony and breaks his rib. Then he begins to whip Tony.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the longest chapter I’ve written. I really hope you guys like this. I’ve taken a few liberties here and I know that this is probably not how Steve’s serum works, but I really like the idea of what happens in his chapter. Remember this is fiction haha. Let me know what you think :)   
> As always I hope you enjoy.

Once Tony passed out in Steve’s arms, he called out to the others, “Guys we need to get Tony to the quinjet now! He needs Bruce and medical!” 

“Let me take him” Thor said, walking up to Steve, “Bruce is ready back at the facility.” At Steve’s frown he added, “Please Steven, he needs treatment now and I can get him there in a matter of seconds.” 

Steve backed down, he knew how badly Tony needed help, despite the supplies they had in the quinjet, it wouldn’t be enough. 

“Okay.” He choked out, handing Tony over and placing him in Thor's arms. 

Tony whined at the movement, “Whaaa...what’s happenin?” He mumbled. 

“It’s okay brother Anthony,” Thor said, in the most gentle voice Steve ever heard Thor use, “I am taking you to safety now.” He said running a hand through his hair. 

“Mmkay.” 

And with Tony cradled by Thor’s arms, he flew off into the sky. 

Thor shot off as fast as he could, immediately taking him back to the tower to where Bruce was. 

At Bruce’s confused expression, Thor quickly filled him in, “Anthony is gravely injured, we needed to get him here as soon as possible.” 

“Okay Thor, don’t worry we will fix it,” Bruce said, “Place him on the table here please.” 

Bruce suppressed a gasp as soon as he saw Tony, he had to be professional about this. He had to see Tony as just another patient so he wouldn’t Hulk out. Yes, he had the serum to help him but the state Tony was in was way beyond upsetting. 

“Don’t worry Tony, I’ll save you.” 

—- 

Steve felt like he was losing his mind. 

Clint and Natasha had taken care of the guards and Hammer was dead. They all were on edge, not knowing what they were going to find in the warehouse. And there was still Donald to deal with. 

Now it felt as if the quinjet was going in slow motion. 

They were a few minutes out from the tower and all they wanted was to see Tony. 

Steve was one minute away from a total panic attack. He was screaming on the inside, God Tony had been so hurt. He was beaten within an inch of his life and god knows what else. Despite seeing Tony in such a state… there was something else that was bothering him. When Tony saw him he seemed partially surprised that him and the team were there. Almost like he was surprised they came for him. Whatever it was he would have to talk to Tony about it when he got better.

If Tony got better. 

He was shaken from his thoughts when Clint said they landed. 

Steve instantly raced to the medical facility where he found Bruce walking out of one the operating room. 

“Bruce what’s happening? It’s Tony okay? What’s going on?” He asked frantically. 

“Steve I need you to calm down.” He said gently raising his arms, “Tony is stable… for the moment.” 

“Can I see him?” 

“Not now, I’m sorry.” Bruce said apologetically. 

“What why?” He demanded as Clint, Natasha and Thor walked up. 

“What’s going on?” Natasha asked. 

“Okay I need you all to save all the questions for after so I can explain.” Bruce said. 

“Okay.” Steve said, crossing his arms, “Explain.” 

Bruce sighed, “Okay, So I managed to stabilize Tony for the time being. I was able to give him some more blood and we are working on fixing his rib which was broken.” He paused, “But that’s not our biggest issue here. Whatever happened to Tony was bad… there’s severe damage to the arc reactor.” Everyone winced at that. “It seems to me that someone used it to power something. 

“Wait someone used his arc reactor as a battery?” Clint shouted. 

“Clint quiet.” Natasha said. 

“Yes that is what I believe.” Bruce said, “The damage comes from electricity and it not only hurt the reactor but the area around it. We think there is damage to his heart. The reactor was used improperly, it's meant to help Tony’s heart and Tony built the suits especially for the reactor so that’s why it’s never damaged him before. But after whatever they did to him, the reactor eventually stopped working like it did before. So some of the shrapnel managed to break loose.” Bruce sighed. “We can replace his reactor but Tony’s heart is damaged and we don’t know what the long term effects will be. We could fix him and his heart could still be overworked. My guess is that we could fix it with surgery but his heart would give out, and that’s without going out to be a hero.” 

“Oh god.” Steve said, gripping his face with his hands, “What do we do?” 

Natasha walked up to Steve, gripping his shoulders, “Chin up, soldier. It’s not over yet.” 

“Not over?” Steve scoffed, “Its either Tony dies or lives a bedridden life, with the constant threat of his heart giving out.” 

“He’s alive,” Clint said, “That has to count for something.” 

“Maybe I can find a healer from Asgard.” Thor said, “Maybe we could use magic.” 

“That’s a gamble.” Bruce said, “Besides how long do you think it would take to find something compatible with humans.” Bruce rubbed his face, “And I was only able to temporarily stabilize him. We either need to operate or…” 

“No.” Steve said vehemently. 

“Maybe it would be more humane for him.” Bruce tried to justify, “If he woke up and realized he had to stay in bed forever—”

“That doesn’t matter. Letting him die is not the way.” Steve said, in his full Captain America voice. 

“Wait.” Natasha said, “Bruce you made a serum compatible with yourself from Steve’s blood.” 

“Yes I did….” Bruce said confused. 

“Maybe you could use it on Tony.” Natasha said. 

“That’s different Nat, I have the Hulk in me and it was made for him. It’s not comparable for normal humans. If I tried to give you some, your body would immediately reject it.” 

“But we already know Steve’s serum and blood has to be somewhat compatible with humans, because Steve was a normal sickly human before he got it.” 

“Yeah,” Clint said, growing excited, “What if we give Tony some of Steve’s blood to help heal his heart, he’s a super soldier and one of his powers is super healing!” 

“Could it work?” Steve asked, growing hopeful, “I already know I have the same blood type as Tony.” 

“How?” Clint asked

“Long story.” Steve said waving him off, “For another day.” 

“Yes… maybe it could. I’ll use a similar formula that I did for me.” Bruce smiled, “But guys this is a long shot and we don’t know how Steve’s blood will affect Tony. There might be mutations or Tony’s body could reject the blood.” 

“It’s better than doing nothing!” Steve said, “And it’s better than the other options.” 

“Okay I’ll get to work then.” Bruce said, “Steve I’m going to need you.” 

“Coming.” 

“Oh and Jarvis? I’m going to need you too.” 

—-

They had been working on the serum for two hours before Bruce finished. And yes, it only took two hours because Steve and Bruce combined were brilliant. 

Jarvis was instrumental to them, he knew everything about Tony and his health so he made the most educated guesses about how much blood to give Tony and how to make it the most compatible with Tony as it could be. 

“Okay Steve.” Bruce said, “It’s game time.” 

“Let’s go.” 

They walked upstairs from the lab and were greeted with the rest of the team. 

“So… did you do it?” Clint asked. 

“Yes, this is our best shot at saving Tony.” Steve said. 

“Well who knew we would have two super soldiers on the team?” Clint joked. 

“Clint, we don’t know how this will work.” Bruce said, however there was a slight smile threatening to appear. 

“Okay I need to give it to him now.” Bruce said, “Are you coming Steve?” 

“Yes of course.” 

They both entered into the operating room and stared sadly at Tony. He was bruising horribly and the lashes on his body were an angry red. He looked so small with all those machines connected to him. 

“So basically we are going to give him the blood the same as we would do with fluids in an IV. It’s the most direct way and that way we can control the amounts.” 

“You sure this is enough?” Steve asked, walking over to Tony and stroking his face. 

“A pint and a half is what Jarvis said would work. Just enough to heal his injured body but not enough to overwhelm him.” Bruce said as he prepared the IV. 

“But what if he needs more?” Steve said, looking worriedly down at Tony, “What if there’s not enough serum to repair the damage?” 

“Steve, this is what Jarvis told us to do. He did the math. Trust him and me. If he needs more then we will give it to him but his body needs this now.” 

As if on cue, the machines connected to Tony started beeping. 

“His heart is overwhelmed!” Bruce said frantically, “Steve grab his arm and give it to me.” 

Steve immediately complied and raised Tony’s arm. 

Bruce inserted the needle and just like that the blood was entering Tony. 

“Jarvis I need you to monitor Tony now, tell us if we need to do anything else.” 

“Of course Doctor Banner, however I feel that everything will be alright.” He said, sounding pleased.

Steve grabbed Tony’s face and pressed his lips to his forehead. 

“Tony love, don’t worry we are helping you. You are going to make it, I know you can do it. You just need to fight.” 

—- 

Tony woke up feeling… well better than he had in as long as he could remember. Which was strange considering the recent turn of events. 

As he slowly came to consciousness, his memories returned. Donald, the arc being used; Hammer and the torture and beatings. 

Oh god his arc reactor. What was he going to do, he knew there was damage. 

So why didn’t anything hurt? Probably the medication, he concluded. And with that he began to stir.

Steve had never left Tony’s side through the whole transfusion. He had been hoping and praying for a miracle. If Tony made it he vowed not to waste it. He would never take anything for granted again and he would be more romantic with Tony. 

Bruce had moved Tony from the OR to a regular room when he saw enough progress. The whole thing had been one giant waiting game and Steve hated it.

This is how he currently found himself, both hands holding Tony’s while sitting on a chair at his side. 

The others, excluding Steve and Bruce had long since passed out on the couch. They were exhausted from battle and Thor had gone to Asgard and back to bring back their medicine, just in case Steve’s serum didn’t work.

That had been hours ago. Now everyone was asleep or waiting, or both. Natasha was asleep sitting up, Clint sleeping against her side and Thor managed to pass out on top of both of them. 

Bruce had just come in again, to go over Tony’s progress with Jarvis, when Tony himself began to stir. 

Steve felt Tony’s hand move in his and he was at full alert. 

“Tony, love.” He said gently, “Tony can you hear me? It’s Steve. Come on baby, you can open your eyes.” 

“Mmmm” Tony mumbled as he began to stretch and move, “Steve…are you here?” 

“Yes sweetheart, now open your eyes, please.” He said grabbing Tony’s face and stroking his face. 

The contact seemed to help, because a second later Tony opened his eyes. 

“There he is.” Steve smiled. 

“Steve.” Tony smiled, eyes shining. “What happened?” He asked looking around. 

“You’re at medical, in the tower. And you’re okay now.” 

“Hello Tony.” Bruce said. 

At the noise, the others awoke. 

“Bruce? Steve? Is Tony awake?” Clint asked. 

Thor saw Tony’s opened eyes, “Brother Anthony! You have awakened!” He said joyously. 

“Easy big guy.” Natasha smiled, patting his arm. 

As Tony came back to himself, he took in everyone around him. His team, his family was here with him. They saved him and now he got to come back home. Happy tears started to come to his eyes. 

“Oh Tony.” Steve said, taking his hands in his, “It’s okay, you're home now.” 

“I know… thank you guys… for coming to save me.” Tony said quietly. 

“Of course sweetheart.” Natasha said, “We love you and we wanted you back the second you were gone.” She came up to him and kissed his forehead, then hugged him 

“I love you guys too.” He said, gripping Natasha. 

“Tony,” Bruce said, smiling, “If you want, I can fill in some of the blanks.” 

Tony nodded his head and pulled away from Natasha. However a second later, he gripped Steve’s hand like a lifeline. 

“Well Tony, I don’t know how much you remember but we rescued you from Hammer. Don’t worry he’s gone.” Tony’s grip tightened.  
Steve held fast and began to stroke Tony’s arm. 

“Well when we got you here, you had been hurt really badly. And the arc reactor… well it had been so damaged that it wasn’t working properly and the area around your chest was deeply bruised. Your heart was working triple time to keep you alive.” Bruce paused, taking a breath, “We didn’t have that many options but as a team we came up with a solution.” He looked around to the others, Tony noticed they were all smiling, “We decided to take some of Steve’s blood and give it to you, in the hopes that it could heal the severe damage. And it looks like it worked better than we were hoping. The reason you don’t feel any pain now is because your injuries are all gone. The serum healed it all and you might end up with your own powers. We won’t know until the next few weeks, as the serum fully mutates your blood.” 

Tony sat there in complete shock, of all things he was expecting to hear, this was definitely not it. He was healed? Completely? He thought for sure he would die and if not have to deal with damage the rest of his life because of how brutal Hammer had been. 

“Wait…” Tony said slowly, “You're telling me that I’m a super soldier now?” 

“I’m sorry Tony.” Steve grimaced, “We know it was wrong to change you like this, to do this to your body without your consent. But we were desperate, we had to save you.” 

Tony looked around at his teams rapidly fading smiles. Shit they all thought he was mad about this. 

“That’s what you think?” Tony asked incredulously, looking to Steve’s worried face. “Steve, baby I’m completely amazed and happy in ways I can’t even describe. I thought I would have damage forever and now you’re telling me that I have your blood in my veins. Honey I couldn’t be happier.” He said. 

“Oh.” Steve said surprised, a slow smile forming. 

“We also need you to know that we kept the arc reactor in you but you no longer need it.” Brice said suddenly. 

“What?” Tony asked shocked. 

“The serum, disintegrated-for lack of a better word-the shrapnel in your heart. And your heart is stronger than ever. But we didn’t want to take the arc out without your consent and we didn’t want to do anything to deter your healing.” 

Now that Tony was more awake and alert he was beginning to notice things he didn’t before, like the fact he could hear the cars on the street and read the sign outside the door with really small writing. Both of which he was positive he could never do before.

“Bruce… I think I can see and hear better that before.” Tony said, like he expected Bruce to tell him he was crazy. 

“Well that’s not surprising, you have Steve’s serum and he has enhanced vision and hearing. We also think that you won’t get sick anymore just like Steve.” Bruce supplied. 

“Wow…that's incredible. I don’t know what to say.” Tony said in wonder. 

“You don’t have to say anything, Tony.” Steve said, rubbing his hand. 

“I think maybe Steve and Tony could use some alone time.” Bruce said, “Unless you have questions Tony.” 

“None that I need answered right now.” Tony said smiling. 

As everyone moved to leave, Clint came and hugged Tony. 

“It’s good to have you back man.” He said as he squeezed him tight. Tony closed his eyes and reveled in feeling his friend there. 

“It’s great to be back.” 

Then Thor came and trapped him in a bear hug. 

“It is amazing to see you again brother.” Thor said. 

“I missed you so much big guy.” Tony said holding back tears. 

“We shall have a celebratory movie night when you feel ready.” Thor said. 

Tony laughed, “Sounds like a plan.” 

“But wait! Bruce!” 

“Yes Tony?” 

“Hammer… he um, said he planted a bomb inside the tower. I’m not sure if it’s true but we need to look into it now.” 

“Okay Tony, I’ll have Jarvis scan the building.” 

“Thank you.” 

And just like that, it was only Steve and Tony. 

—- 

Tony sighed and turned to look at Steve, smiling softly. 

“So I guess I’m a super soldier now.” Tony teased. 

“Yeah I guess you are.” Steve said. 

“Mmm you better watch out, now I really will take you on.” Tony smirked. 

“Uh oh, I guess I better give up now before I have a fight on my hands.” Steve played along. 

Tony giggled and then as he met Steve’s gaze he looked back down. 

And just like that, the mood sobered up. 

Steve still sat in the chair next to Tony’s bed, but he slowly leaned closer to Tony reaching a hand to his face. 

“Tony…” Steve sighed. “You have been through so much. And although I know you feel fine physically, it’s okay if you’re still not okay.” 

“I’m fine Steve, really.” Tony tried to deny. 

“Really? Because I wasn’t. I thought you were gone baby. I missed you more than anything and I can’t imagine what those monsters did to you.” Steve said angry, but then sighed and stroked Tony’s face, “But it’s okay if you don’t want to talk right away, just know I’m here to help you, and I always will be because I love you.” 

Apparently that’s what Tony needed to hear because he looked up at Steve with watery eyes. 

“They um… Donald-he.” Tony took a deep breath, “He strapped me to a table and I couldn’t move and they used the arc reactor to power his weapons. And god Steve, it felt like it was burning me alive and sucking the life out of me at the same time. It was probably the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I couldn’t escape it, I could only cry in pain and it never stopped. I begged them to stop and they wouldn’t.” Tony said, tears flowing freely down his face. 

“Hammer carved their initials in my stomach and then… they played a recording of you guys. Supposedly after the explosion. In it you said… you said you hated me and the Avengers would be better if without me. Everyone else didn’t want to save me either. Natasha said I was too broken to be fixed.” He sobbed, “They made me think you guys were glad I was gone.” He cried. 

That was all Steve needed to hear before he got up and let go do Tony’s face. 

Tony looked up through his tears, horrified that Steve was leaving him. That it was all true after all. 

Steve immediately sat down on the bed and pulled Tony into his arms. 

Tony melted into his embrace, he had been wanting a hug for so long. And he was here, with Steve finally. He thought he wouldn’t live to have a chance to hug his boyfriend again. 

All these emotions were flooding Tony at the same time. But for the first time he didn’t have to worry, he wasn’t alone. He could just cry in his boyfriend arms. 

As Tony cried, he buried his face in Steve’s chest. Steve stroked his back and began speaking softly, “God Tony, to hear what they did to you…” he said at a loss. “You didn’t deserve any of it. And none of it was true, we looked for you every second you were gone. And the only word that could come close to describe what we felt, when we heard you were gone…” he stopped, taking a breath, “Was absolute devastation.” Steve managed to get out, years running down his eyes. 

Tony looked up at Steve’s face and put a hand to his boyfriends face, “Please don’t cry.” 

“Tony you have to understand, we all love you. Losing you was horrible.” He said, pulling Tony onto his lap so they were face to face and as close as can be. “Anthony Edward Stark, don’t think for a second that the recording you heard was true. I absolutely adore you and love you so fucking much. I was empty without you. Do you understand?” He said, fully crying now. 

“Yes.” Tony said, tears steadily flowing, “Yes I understand and I love you too. I talked to you when the pain was too much. I pictured you and the team and coming home.” He said, before launching himself at Steve, pulling him in a hug. 

Tony finally let it all out, the devastation, the frustration, the relief and love. He cried his heart out and Steve was there to hold him through it all. He let Tony fall only to be there to catch him. A solid reassurance of love. 

Steve held onto Tony, tight, trying to calm the shaking from the sobs. He stroked Tony’s back and tried to comfort him as much as he could, “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I’m glad I could help you in some way though. I’m just so glad you’re back. And don’t worry you’ll be okay. You may not be now but you’ll get there, I promise.” 

Tony pulled back, “I know I will be. I have you Steve.” He said, kissing Steve deeply on the lips. 

Both men were amazed at how it felt to kiss the other again. Tony pushed his tongue into Steve’s mouth and Steve moaned out and threaded his fingers through Tony’s brown curls. 

Steve pulled away and began to kiss Tony’s neck and Tony giggled. 

“Stop that, it tickles.” Tony tried to pull away. 

“Nuh uh.” Steve kissed Tony’s face all over, “You are in for a lot of this, you owe me.” 

“Oh do I now?” 

“Yup, even the Tony Stark has debts he has to pay.” 

Tony smirked and rolled his eyes. Then he curled back into Steve. 

“God I missed this.” 

“Me too, more than I can say.” 

—- 

About an hour later Tony was released from Medical. Bruce said it was fine but just to be sure Jarvis scanned him one last time. However it just confirmed what they already knew: Tony was healthier and stronger than ever. 

“I can’t wait to see what cool powers I have!” Tony boasted. “Do you think I will be able to shoot lasers from my eyes?” 

Bruce rolled his eyes, “I don’t think that’s how it works Tony.” 

“Ugh. Why couldn’t you have given me something cooler, Steve?” He said, faking anger. 

“Sorry, I’ll try better next time.” Steve replied dryly. 

“You better.” 

As they made it to the elevator, Tony stopped and turned to Bruce, “Seriously though, thank you for everything.” 

“No thanks needed, and it was a group effort really.” 

Tony and Steve held hands then, stepped into the elevator. 

They headed into their room and all of a sudden Tony became emotional again. At Steve’s worried glance Tony explained. 

“Sorry it’s just, I’m so happy to be here. Home with you and my family.” 

“Oh baby, I get it.” Steve pulled Tony into him. “We are all happy to have you.” 

Tony smiled up at him. 

“So I was thinking maybe you’d want a bath… and if you’re up for it the team wants to have a movie night. I can make you your favorite cheeseburgers and we can all just relax. But if you want the night to yourself then I totally understand.” 

“No it’s okay, your plan sounds perfect.” Tony said, happily. 

“Okay, now let's get those bubbles going.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like what I’m writing. Comments and kudos are appreciated as well as constructive criticism. I do want to know what I can do to improve. Also if you have any ideas about what you want to see in the story I am totally open to hearing them. I have some chapters semi planned and I do plan to update regularly. I’ll happily add in anything you may want. Thanks for reading!


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